Colourmusic - F, Monday, Orange, February, Venus, Lunatis, 1 or 13

Colourmusic
F, Monday, Orange, February, Venus, Lunatic, 1 or 13
(09.2008, Great Society)
Verdict = It’s definitely orange, like an Orange Julius (if you like that sort of thing)

On paper (or their Wikipedia page) the concept that is Colourmusic should set off some blatant pretension alarms. As the Oklahoma band name implies, Colourmusic is interested in color theory - more specifically, Isaac Newton’s Theory of Color and Sound. And, as the spelling implies, Colourmusic carries a Brit in its ranks and probably has plenty of socialist friends in Europe. F, Monday, Orange, February, Venus, Lunatic, 1 or 13 is an accumulation of a couple of the bands earlier EPs based on the “colours” yellow and red along with some additional new songs. So, anyone worth their weight in grade school color creation can probably work out that the Colourmusic’s debut is based on the band’s idea of what Orange sounds like. I decided to test this out FG’s own resident color theorist, Sassigrass. Just so you have a little background, Sassigrass has a bachelor’s degree in fine arts, is obsessed with Joseph Albers and currently works during the day as a luxury faux painter for people with way too much money. On her faux painting team, Sassigrass is renowned for her ability to mix colors in order to perfectly match any wall or trim they encounter. Without giving her any preliminary information about the band I played her the album and then asker her, “if you could say that this album was any one specific color, what would it be?” She was a little hesitant, only because she didn’t want to get it wrong, but eventually she admitted that she thought it was indeed orange. I agree, and not only has Colourmusic captured the color within sound, but has captured thirteen tracks of almost infallible pop genius. Yep, it turns out orange is the color of incredible pop music. Don’t read that lightly either, on F, Orange, blah blah, 1 or 13, Colourmusic has created one of those exuberantly exciting, endlessly creative albums that sounds like it was as fun to make as it is fun to hear. The album is the sharpest, most vibrant, most ridiculously-enjoyable-without-being-overbearing album I’ve heard since, well, I don’t know, maybe ever? It certainly ranks up there with the best releases of The Flaming Lips, The Unicorns, Annuals, Evangelicals, Pas/Cal, Portugal. The Man, The Starlight Mints – you know, that whole psych-pop crowd. Well, with a single debut full length, Colourmusic has set themselves up as either equal or superior to many of the aforementioned statesmen of imaginative, off kilter indie rock. Here is hoping that orange isn’t the pinnacle of pop in its expression of color. I don’t know about you, but I’d like to hear some green next time around. How about it Colourmusic?

-Mr Thistle