Release Date: March 8, 2011
Morning Teleportation’s Expanding Anyway is a hippie’s retreat, a surreal transformation to a time when ironic detachment wasn’t the new cool. The five-piece Portland, Ore., band has a retro identity with a flair for the psychedelic. Their debut is sincere to the bone and the product of musicians playing however they damn well please. Fortunately for the listener these musicians really know how to play.
Expanding Anyway, released under Glacial Pace Recordings, benefits from the production chops of Modest Mouse front-man Isaac Brock. Within individual songs the music evolves in fascinating ways. “Just a Figment” starts with an easy guitar melody, a pinch of synth, and breezy vocals, then speeds up with some expert guitar picking and frenetic vocals only to go out in a haze of feedback and horns. There’s no real chorus in the entire thing. The band runs with a melody, tweaks it with a new instrument, slows it down, speeds it up and explores it.
The music has a razor sharp fidelity despite its complexity. Listening to it one can see what attracted Brock to Morning Teleportation.
The band uses too many instruments and effects to count with aplomb. Banjo, synth, talk box, trumpet, drums, bass and various other tools of the sonic trade form the band’s ever-changing sound. Such experimentation could easily lead to disaster, but the band manages to keep their music interesting and cogent. Listening to the album is kind of like eating jelly beans, only all the licorice ones have been taken out.
The band still manages to maintain a good flow between songs. The track following “Just a Figment” picks up with the trumpet playing what sounds the theme of the late ’60s TV show The Green Hornet and a groovy bass run underneath. Book ending “Just a Figment” and then beginning “Snow Frog vs. Motor Cobra” with the horn makes the jump in tempo less jarring. This allows the track to go off into brand new territory. In the middle of the song comes a break down that features a talk box repeating the phrase, “Snow Frog vs. Motor Cobra,” over and over again.
Expanding Anyway is a throwback in the best way possible. Morning Teleportation picks up a hodgepodge of instruments and experiments to create a unique psychedelic sound without falling apart.
Albums are becoming more and more outdated in the digital age, but Expanding Anyway is a prime example of why they still matter. Their debut goes whichever way it pleases and plays with themes, instrumentation, and melodies to create a fascinating whole music lovers will want to listen to over and over again.
Morning Transportation – Expanding Anyway Tracklist:
- “Boom Puma”
- “Eyes the Same”
- “Snow Fog vs. Motor Cobra”
- “Expanding Anyway”
- “Crystalline”
- “Daydream Electric Storm”
- “Whole Hearted Drifting Sense of Inertia”
- “Just a Figment”
- “Drifting Planes”
- “Cold Weather Sunshine”
- “Banjo Disco”
- “Treble Chair”
