Mock Orange: Disguised as Ghosts
In 2000, I was introduced to Mock Orange through their fairly awesome album, The Record Play. The album played perfectly into my 16-year-old music interests; it was complex, emotional, and technically interesting. As I have grown, my musical interests have changed as have the musical interests of Mock Orange. This is evident on Mock Orange’s seventh album, Disguised as Ghosts.
If you listened to The Record Play and Disguised as Ghosts back to back, you would not believe they were made by the same band. The once anguished musings of a teenage singer have been replaced with Beatles-esque pop falsetto. The psychedelic pop closing track “Stop And Go” features jaunty acoustic guitars and vocal harmonies that really make it a fab four sound-a-like. On the otherside, the warm acoustic tones of “Sidewalk” mixed with the vocals make it sound like a lost Elliott Smith tune.
My one problem with Disguised as Ghosts is that the band has seemingly transformed itself into a pop band yet the album is not overflowing with strong pop hooks. After three listens through the album, I do not find myself able to recall a single hook.
Without those catchy hooks, Disguised as Ghosts feels mediocre. It is not a bad listen but there is certainly nothing propelling me to listen to the album again. It seems like the CD is destined to be buried in my CD collection never to be listened to again.
Rating: 7.3/10
MP3: Mock Orange “Stop And Go”
Buy: Mock Orange or Amazon