N.E.R.D. - Seeing Sounds Album Review
According to Pharrell, the old N.E.R.D. track record 'Fly or Die' was intended to be a "kaleidoscope of sounds" merely in reality failed to depart from the realm of the kitsch; directional a passing glance toward their colorful influences only never imparting more than gentle pastiche. Thankfully, 'Seeing Sounds' is such a bold and all-encompassing statement of the N.E.R.D aesthetic that a telescopic lens might not be enough to view this other worldly, interplanetary sonic wonderment.
The step to the fore in category is partly explained by the fact that the bubblegum, playground-skit personas that Pharrell and Chad reserve for N.E.R.D. are for the number one time merged with elements of their Neptunes production day job - something that the pair had fought hard against in the early part of their career, opting to re-record debut record 'In Search of.', replacement their touch production with the live instruments of power-pop band Spymob. Although the casimir Funk guitar riffs and frat boy sensibilities remain, 'Seeing Sounds' augments the live band ethical motive by providing some much needed Neptunes magic on the drums, bass and guitar.
The full Neptunes mould is smartly withheld and just enough is unleashed to tease out the range of instrumentation without swallowing the hyper-active party atmosphere. 'Spaz' is held together by a plucked acoustic guitar loop and restless d 'n' b beat normal, the impression of which is effortlessly and brilliantly remodelled by shifting synths and some well placed cuts. Pharrell's boyish individual delivery on 'Yeah You' is underpinned to capital effect by some delicate double bass and a hypnotizing flamenco-esque hi-hat/shaker regular recurrence.
Add this to the fact that the songs are just of a better standard than on previous records and you have a piece of work that finally reconciles the divergent strands that were disjointed on late efforts. The full-on double bass and thunderous membranophone assault of lead single 'Everybody Nose' seems to have been on the whole fired by a rather serious-minded blogosphere, but Neptunes connoisseurs will apprise the spanking bass brake drum in the verse and the delicately handled lip shots portion along the piano in the crack-up. Those of us wHO would simply like to dance to it will be ineffectual to stop. The unappeasable funk of 'Killjoy' rekindles the spirit of Off The Wall-era Quincy Jones and once more underlays the playful exterior with some tricky cymbal and cowbell production.
The album is not devoid of filler - the guitar drone of 'Happy' is Janes Addiction-by-numbers and the swirling psychedelia of 'Sooner or Later' works until the point you make its startling affinity with 'Sowing the Seeds of Love' by Tears for Fears. However these are understandable blips on a record that attempts and by-and-large succeeds in invocation a self-contained and seductive sonic universe on each separate call. The crowning glory of 'Seeing Sounds' is the achievement of a uncommon thing: An album that is both impossible to take gravely and impossible to traverse serious praise.
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