Music Review: Brian Altano, Misanthrope

Published on December 5th, 2014 in: Current Faves, Music, Music Reviews, Reviews |

By Tyler Hodg

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Lyrics are often the easiest way for a listener to develop a connection to a song. They can be manipulated to convey whatever meaning you desire and can bring a new perspective to the notes that they accompany. Brian Altano (IGN, The Comedy Button) defied the importance of lyrics to create an instrumental album that explores the notion that words aren’t the only way to make music a personable and thought-provoking experience. The result is Misanthrope, and it’s truly a remarkable ride.

Misanthrope can easily be labeled as an electronic album, but it’s actually far removed from the generic dance music that gives the genre a bad name. Its inventive digital sound rallies not just your body to dance, but your emotions as well. Musically, it has its ups and downs and isn’t afraid to go into territory uncharted by the electronic genre, which is refreshing in a world of rehashed ideas and monotonous sounds.

It’s easy to tell that Misanthrope was a passion project for Brian Altano. It was three years in the making, but you wouldn’t know that by listening to it; the beautifully crafted songs work cohesively to create a complete experience, rather than scattered ideas distorted by time. Its organic sound grips you and refuses to let you go, not that you’ll want it to, anyway.

Clocking in at around 35 minutes long, Misanthrope allows the listener to get a decent taste of Altano’s music, but not enough to get sick of it. Although long albums can often become tiring and repetitive, Misanthrope would not suffer with the addition of more tracks. In fact, its fairly short length comes as its only fault, if you can call it one.

With an album this good, choosing stand-out tracks can be a tough feat; not only does each song live up to its predecessor, it leaves you optimistic to hear what lies ahead. Having said that, “Silver Shank” is probably the coolest track on the album. Its sci-fi, horror film-like intro snags your attention immediately, eventually opening up to reveal a groovy sounding organ and a complementary guitar solo played by Thomas Rakowitz, who is also featured on “One A.M.” and the second to last song, “If You Need Me I’m Gone.” “Take It All” is the closing track and sums up the album perfectly. It brings back certain sounds in an almost thematic way, whether intentionally or not.

Music aside, the cover art on Misanthrope is fantastic. It features a badass looking Altano, standing in front of what New York would probably look like on acid: bursting with vibrant colors and littered with personal references written on the buildings and signs in Time Square. Pandamust was able to create a cover that not only represented the music, but also the musician behind it all. Not only does the cover art enhance the listening experience, the production quality is top notch as well.

Brian Altano’s Misanthrope may not feature any words, but it still speaks volumes. The songs are imaginative and expressive, leaving you to marvel in the thrill of listening to it. Misanthrope breaks free of any restrictions that you might think electronic music has and is an original and adventurous album.

Misanthrope was released on December 10, 2013 and is available to download for free at http://www.misanthropealbum.com/.



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