Tuesday, October 31, 2017

Superb-organism

I am typically an album listener. Some people are songs-first, then explore the album. It’s just a personal preference, but more often when I listen to a band, it is usually because I had heard of an album and wanted to check it out. I know it is uncommon; most people hit on songs on the radio and then turn to the albums for more. I mean, this is the purpose of the radio single. This is why it was unusual for me to learn of this group who, to my knowledge, has only put out three individual songs.

The band is called Superorganism, and before you try to do a search, believe me, it is not easy to come up with information on them. I have seen this sentence quoted several different times online, so I will do the same here: “Superorganism are a new group made up of a 17-year-old Japanese girl named Orono who lives in Maine and 7 other people who live in London.”

Now, since the band’s auspicious debut, this has proved mostly an in-joke. Much more information is available, and it seems the band just may prefer to occupy this mysterious status. Sort of, the less information I know about the band, the more intriguing the songs become. Most of the articles I tracked down (there are, like, three) seem to echo the same thoughts: this nebulous group puts out some addicting songs. That much we do know.

I love all three songs and have continually rotated them. I really can’t decide which is my favorite; all three have spent some time as that designation at one point or another. I enjoy them so much, I have tried them in every possible order (6 combinations) to see what works best for me. I suppose one upshot to take is that this exploration can be more rewarding than listening to an order set by an album. ANYWAY, naturally, I have thoughts on all three:

“It’s All Good” Of the three songs, this is the one that sounds like it would be the most likely to be on the radio. It has all the qualities of a pop song that appeals to a mass audience. This may sound demeaning, but it’s not meant to be. I only mean that it would be easy to rope in the widest array of listeners with this track, more so than with the others. Complete with what sounds like a full chorus and about twenty different instruments, the song is so happy, it’s impossible to listen to once.

“Nobody Cares” This is the one that I find running through my head hours or days after listening to it. This does not necessarily mean it’s my favorite, but its jaunty pace gets inducted in my head more often than I care to admit. Like the predecessor, happiness oozes from this song. Of all three, this is also the one where you should track down the video. It’s as trippy as it is joyous.

“Something for Your M.I.N.D.” To my mind, this is the crown jewel of the three. Without question, this is the most infectious song I have heard in 2017. As with any good thing, my discovery of the songs has a story. I missed finding them when they first hit the Internet big in the early spring. Instead, I found out about them five months later on a music blog. When I went to find the song I had missed, however, it was nowhere to be found. The Spotify entry was present but not active. The YouTube video was fuzzy with a dead link. I even checked the wild--SoundCloud--and the band's page was empty. Not being able to find it nagged at me, and I was reluctant to let it go. It didn't help that any article I found about the song could not write about it without talking how addicting it was. So, over the course of a few months, I searched for it from time to time to see if there was any new information. This song was taking on mythical qualities. When I finally found it, I was hooked almost instantly. The electronic beat pulses throughout and seems to feel better on each listen. Needless to say, the payoff was unbelievably sweet.

It sounds like a cliche, but I really cannot wait to see what’s next for this band. I’m hoping for the album, of course, (currently rumored for early 2018) but at this point I would take just one more song as fantastic as these first three. They are currently touring with about a half dozen other songs which, if they have been released, are tucked away on some corner of the Internet I haven’t found as of the time of this writing. I honestly cannot remember the last time I was this excited about a new band. Take the nine minutes and fifty-three seconds to listen to these three songs, and then join me in anticipating what is to come.