Future Women lacks sense of definition
The M's have trouble finding consistency in its second release.
Published Feb. 28, 2006
As a general rule, music must be classified. Even the most experimental groups find themselves classified by musicians and listeners — despite attempts to avoid this classification.
The problem with The M's release Future Women stems from this classification issue.
On its second release, The M's, yet another band spawned from the streets of Chicago, have confounded the belief that music should stick to one genre or sound.
During the course of the album it changes from heavy Brit-pop rock to a sound reminiscent of The Beatles' middle years to a sound that employs a style similar to Clap Your Hands Say Yeah.
And that is just the first three songs.
Successful music, for the most part, engages its listeners through its consistency. But this doesn't happen on Future Women.
Most tracks are different from each other, and this gives the album a disjointed and illogical feel.
The lack of consistency and cohesion between the tracks becomes rather frustrating at times, a void that often culminates with the listener yelling at the inanimate stereo for structure and a decent organization.
This I can attest to, based upon personal experience.
The direction that The M's have chosen with Future Women often feels a bit too much like its major influences and the vast spectrum of popular music from which it derives its sound.
When the second track, "Shawnee Dupree," begins, one might swear he or she is listening to an altered version of "Taxman" by The Beatles, because the beats and chords are similar throughout the song.
But, that is not to say members of The M's are not talented musicians. Guitarist Robert Hicks' riffs on such tracks including "Plan of the Man" and "Mansion in the Valley" are inspiring and bring goose bumps.
Despite The M's obvious talent, Future Women reflects an inability of the band to shape its own sound as it introduces characteristic sounds of others and calls them its own.
The M's should rethink what it wants to do with its music and what direction to take. After these changes, perhaps The M's will find a new direction — one that is characterized by cohesion and connectivity.