Milky Chance toyed with unfamiliar genres and unique features on their new album, “Mind the Moon,” released Friday.
The German folk band has come a long way since the success of their 2013 single, “Stolen Dance,” which entered Billboard’s Hot 100 in 2014. A mix of electronic pop with folk, reggae and jazz, the band’s infectious high and mid tempo beats make it hard to not move to the beat.
While the music in “Mind the Moon,” continues to be faithful to their sound, several unique stylistic elements are mixed in with each song to create a fun, assorted album.
The project’s first track, “Fado,” is named after the eponymous Portugese genre of music and mixes it with the band’s signature electronic style creating a song that’s perfect to dance to.
The song’s significance, however, is left rather unclear with lyrics like, “What if the birds don’t know how to sing anymore, to sing anymore? What if it hurts you so, it hurts you so? I heard this is Fado.” Its melody is best enjoyed without actually paying attention to the lyrics.
Their lead single, “Daydreaming,” a collaboration with Australian singer Tash Sultana, has a little more substance. The song begins with a dream-like sound that slowly fades into the background as the music picks up. The lyrics are about coping with reality by escaping into a world where things might go down a different route.
“The Game” incorporates various sounds including reggae, chillout music and rock and relates to their previous single. In both, the group expresses the struggles of dealing with reality. The only difference is in “The Game” the lyrics point to trying to understand the “rules of the game,” or, rather, life.
The weakest song on the album is “We Didn’t Make It To the Moon.” It mixes jazz and rock and explores accepting and enjoying what one has. While the message may be encouraging, the track feels underwhelming and comes off as an incomplete story with. The verses paint only a partial picture and are overshadowed by a fairly repetitive chorus.
One highlight from the album is “Eden’s House,” featuring South African male choral group Ladysmith Black Mambazo. Milky Chance mixed their music with the sound of the chorus in the best way possible. Possibly the most slowly paced song on the album, it stands out enough to feel like another single.
Other standouts include “Scarlet Paintings,” which is similar to “Fado” in its beats, and “Rush,” which features Beligian artist Témé Tan.
The group’s third studio album did not disappoint. While the messages in their songs do not always land, the project delivers on consistently experimental beats and interesting collaborations that provide a song for everyone. Milky Chance gave fans an album that they won’t want to miss out on.
