Album: “Coconut Message”
Artist: Disaster in the Universe
Label: New Times
Release Date: March 14th, 2014.
Disaster in the Universe (DITU) is a fantastic new act from Norway presenting their debut album “Coconut Message”. But what makes DITU so special? Well, first they are from Oslo, Norway and they sound unlike anything I’ve heard before (even when MGMT is the first thing that comes to mind when listening to DITU for the first time, more on that later). Second, they are a multicultural band that blends dub, electronica and psychedelic rock in lively and rich beats.
Sunlight is their a mellow album opener with subtle but sophisticated electro background beats. It’s also one of the official singles off “Coconut Message”. Disaster in the Universe takes pride on of their home country featuring Norwegian actress Elsa Lystad dancing and twisting on the video with deep close-up takes of her eyes and smile.
Yugen (Telling Me All) which is another single from the album, could easily end up being one of your favorite songs on it. It’s also one of the most powerful tracks on the album too. I would describe the video as a strange technicolor-styled journey to the center of a pineapple using lots of bodypaint. The fitting lyrics are just as weird and present a fantastic world to which you would like to dive into.
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Zoon Logikon sounds like it was sung under the ocean at night, appropriate for the “beach themed” album. Feed The Bubbles brings you up again with a catchy and happy beat right before the extraordinary feel-good Beach House, another single off the album. Beach House is just pure fun and should be one of your favorites of the album too. I could easily imagine myself having fun at a beach house with my friends while playing this song on the background and that’s exactly what the video for this single shows. This is the perfect song for listening to over and over again while driving to the beach or actually dancing to.
Jada Jada is psychedelic. Notion of Home is a pretty traditional song nowadays. Very Worried is probably the strangest track on the album, only 1:24 long with an indian-sounding rhythm. Let Me Out goes back to the basics of the style presented in the entire album. It all closes on a mid-note with Everything I Want To Do which features a chorus you could easily chant to.
Disaster in the Universe’s debut album “Coconut Message” is very thematic, it’s rich in variety but not enough to go beyond its psychedelic style and beach-like sounds which makes perfect sense. I would hope for the band to maintain this style on the sophomore album but I’m eager to see how their style evolves too because they can’t be stuck on this style forever since all songs on their first album sound fresh enough to capture my attention but they sound too similar to each other.
DITU is a refreshing musical proposal nevertheless, it’s catchy, psychedelic and does well to lightly mix different styles, maybe that’ll be the key for the their success going forward. DITU also opens the doors to discover even more music from Norway in their different styles, artists like Eye Emma Jedi, Cold Mailman and others which I still have to listen to. But thanks to DITU I hear you Norway! We also have to put things into perspective, “Coconut Message” is a very beach-themed album from a band from Norway, a country with its beaches but usually mentally associated with its cold snow.
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One of their best songs and the first one I heard from them, Recovering, was sadly left out of their debut album. Finally, if I take the liberty of comparing Disaster in the Universe to MGMT because of their psychedelic style I would just say that Disaster in the Universe is everything that MGMT should have been. Maybe you liked MGMT’s Kids or Electric Feel but then they got “too experimental” for your taste, well Disaster in the Universe is for you.
Rating: 8/10
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