Money For All (1+ Tracks) [EP]

David Sylvian, Burnt Friedman and Steve Jansen have fortunately made the decision to continue working together under the moniker of NINE HORSES. This eight track EP begins with the title track, "Money For All", a collaboration between Sylvian and Friedman. Jazzy vibraphone and clarinet riffs are intertwined with bluesy guitar licks and folky harmonica lines,...all casually placed atop a slightly trippy hip hop groove. The song also features the soulful harmonies from the very same backing vocalists who helped frame a large portion of the melody lines on Nine Horses' debut, Snow Borne Sorrow. Sylvian's lyrics seem to be filled with veiled attacks against the US President Bush and the Republican Party (referred to here as "a mean looking elephant"), basically hitting them hard where they purport to be the strongest: homeland security, capitalism, and the neo-conservative urge for war rather than diplomacy. Yet the cultural climate maintained by the nation's citizens is also taken to task: the endless need for foreign oil, the downside to nationalistic pride resulting in an 'us versus them' mentality, the overall greed that is prevalent in capitalism and destructive vices that many willingly take part in.

"Get The Hell Out", written by Jansen and Sylvian, is built upon a funked up techno beat which is somewhat similar to the recent sound of Massive Attack. Staccato synthesized horn kicks punctuate the track throughout the relatively aggressive verses, while Sylvian's smooth Fender Rhodes and a highly orchestrated sampling of violins permeate the much gentler bridges. Though Sylvian's lyrics are uncharacteristically less descriptive than usual, it appears as though the song's subject matter revolves around an abused woman in need of escape from her current situation.

"Birds Sing For Their Lives", which previously appeared on the Japanese version of Nine Horses' debut cd, is a collaboration between Jansen and Sylvian with singer Stina Nordenstam handling all vocals and lyrics. The song's minimalistic and icy tone atop an eerily adagio waltz tempo is perfect for Nordenstam's fragile vocal.

In the case of Friedman's remixes of the tracks from Snow Borne Sorrow, all three fail to improve upon the originals in any way and come across as unnecessary in my opinion. Yet the new material that is included can only be considered as especially strong additions to the Nine Horses catalog, so this is well worth it.

"Money for All" is an EP released by Nine Horses, a collaborative effort between David Sylvian, Steve Jansen and Burnt Friedman. Newcomers to the project are advised to start with the band's album, "Snow Borne Sorrow".

Having dispensed with that, this EP consists of three new songs, two of which receive a remix, and three remixes of pieces from "Snow Borne Sorrow".

As for the material itself, the new pieces find Sylvian hearkening back to a decade ago-- looped beats and instruments and edgy, aggressive, nearly spoken word vocals and dominate both the title track and "Get the Hell Out". It reminds me strongly of the "Little Girls with 99 Lives" material that surfaced on the "I Surrender" single, but like that material, it sounds almost awkward and tentative at times. Admittedly, Sylvian's chorus on "Get the Hell Out" is so fantastic, it's hard not to love it. The third new piece, Birds Sing For Their Lives", is a vocal feature for Stina Nordenstam. I have to be honest, I don't love her voice and given this, it's hard for me to seriously consider the piece-- certainly the backing track has a nice, lurching electronica sound, but Nordenstam's vocal doesn't sit right with me. "Money For All" and "Get the Hell Out" both get remixes-- the former doesn't add much-- adding a few pauses and playing with some of the loops, the latter respins the piece as a churning, violin-driven number, adding a number of overtones and colors.

The remixes of the material from "Snow Borne Sorrow", like the ones for Sylvian's previous effort ("The Good Son vs. the Only Daughter" remix album for "Blemish") are often dramatically different from the previous versions. "The Banality of Evil" gets reinvented completely, restructured and featuring a noisy guitar line, while taking away some of the almost groaning nature of the original. For a piece that keeps the melody of the original, it feels like a totally different song. "Wonderful World" doesn't get quite this level of reinvention, feeling more like a rearrangement, with Friedman's remix emphasizing the separation between the vocals and the instruments moreso than the album mix. "Serotonin" is reinvented as a muted funk workout, and while I have the least to say about it, is probably the best of the three remixes.

Like the rest of the Nine Horses material, I find myself with quite a mixed feeling on this one-- it's not that it's not a worthwhile listen, it's just that it's not superb, and quite honestly, I've come to expect superb from Sylvian, particularly after just how powerful "Blemish" was a few years ago. If it were someone else, I'd rate this higher, but for Sylvian, this one is a bit subpar.

Hypnotic, dreamy, experimental, adventurous forays into sound like no other can produce. This is quite simply a visionary work that contains the marks of real genius. Enjoy in various states of consciousness.

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