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Rating: The years immediately following the golden era of Britpop were characterized by notable creativity; many bands were formed, maybe released one or two albums, but with truly excellent results.
One of these was Cotton Mather, a group of guys from Texas who, in this second album titled "Kontiki" (named after the vessel of a Norwegian explorer who crossed the Pacific from America to Polynesia), created a style at times almost innovative. Supported by a name like Noel Gallagher, who judged it one of the best albums of the last ten years, as a fan of Oasis and Britpop in general, I could not help but listen to it, being pleasantly surprised by the freshness of this melodic guitar pop, at times psychedelic.
It must be said that upon an immediate and somewhat superficial listen, the album appears quite retro: the opening track "Camp Hill Rail Operator" immediately brings to mind the Byrds, while the second track, a splendid acoustic ballad, also proposes influences from the Rolling Stones... But the main reference for these fourteen tracks is predominantly the Beatles. However, it's evident upon a more in-depth listen, the ability of Cotton Mather to "modernize" sounds and styles that have made pop history. It’s as if they've taken the best of the Beatles and separated it from anything that could remind you of the Beatles' era, bringing it to coexist with the sounds of the nineties and beyond. Listen, for instance, to the fast-paced "Password": it seems like the Britpop version of "Ticket to Ride," with a dash of punk... The same goes for "She's Only Cool" and the extraordinary concluding ballad "Autumn's Birds," which seems like the perfect fusion between Oasis's "The Masterplan" and a slow piece from the Beatles' "White Album," all associated with a very personal conception of the "spirituality" of the piece in question.
Because, and to conclude, this is a very spiritual album. Its tracks form a sonic journey that, like the voyage of the Kontiki, creates visions of various natures in the listener but with great effectiveness: one feels (and sees) the England of the industrial revolution and the Victorian era; one feels 19th-century America, surely the sixties, the nineties of Britpop and, perhaps, a touch of the future, like the astronaut on the cover, without depriving it all of a very subtle melancholic vein that further strengthens the album's expressive value.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
09 Lily Dreams On (02:50)
Lily I hope you picture me in your dreams
Put down your King James Bible
You don't need no kings
Close you eyes
Baby, I'll dry mine
Echoes through the phone
Far from this
Lily dreams on
Think back to fields of Catherine
You used to play
I swore I heard you laughing
And almost say "Pull your morals down, take away the past, and let the past be gone"
Far from this
Lily dreams on
Far from this
Lily dreams on
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