Meisha - Meisha Returns Meisha Forever
(Music Fellowship)
Like the cover art on Meisha's second album Meisha Returns Meisha Forever, the music is deceptively simple. At first glance (or listen) the album and its layout seem to consist only of a few motifs or themes repeated over and over--which it does. The complexity of both the painting and music, however, lies in the variety of textures/timbre and other elements used within these compositional motifs.
The cover features a blurred smear of mostly dark blues, interspersed with cobalt blue and the other two primary colors, red and yellow. The other paintings throughout the booklet feature similar color compositions, with possible secondary greens and oranges and purples thrown in. The different paintings, however, feature widely different use of the elements of art within this color scheme. They go from the smooth blur and all around composition of the cover painting to the thick impasto of some of the inner paintings, including an almost graffiti like geometric piece.
The music follows the same pattern of taking a simple theme and repeating it with small variations. This lack of variety in the composition concentrates our focus on the elements of the music, and the specific timbre and voice of the instruments used. The album begins with "Piano Song," which starts off with a single piano theme that is repeated, and then slowly added upon with variations on that theme along with additions of guitar and organ, whose different musical textures add a subtle, but incredibly rich dimension.
This same sort of composition is repeated on most of the songs of the album, which could end up being dull. The album, however, avoids becoming dull through its use of these subtle, but rewarding variations. Meisha's choice to dispense with the excess and concentrate on the essentials reveals an album that, without any fanfare, achieves a simple beauty that stands up to repeated listens.
So, as with Michael Tamburo's cover paintings, the strength of Meisha's second album lies in its simplicity. The visual and musical motifs may require some additional attention as compared to your average rock record, but this additional attention is certainly rewarded.
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