Mystery Art Orchestra ‘Prismatic Dream’ – dark and moody from Brandenburg/Berlin

On May 25th, the Berlin/Brandenburg outfit Mystery Art Orchestra released their album “Prismatic Dream” and asked me ages ago to do a review. Originally, I was a little on the fence because I always expect the worst but this band is quite the surprise.

By the way, this is a very atmospheric moody video with good story telling. I like the “Twilight”-shots of the forests in Brandenburg (don’t be smug, the camera work in the first “Twilight”-movie was pitch-perfect melancholia).

Opening with tittering violins and then delving into deep drums and electric guitars like a late 80s metal band (looking at you, Danzig!), one could think that this is going to be a blast from the past. And it is. Although more new wave/post-punk than metal, Mystery Art Orchestra indeed reference the darker, more sinister side of the 80s. But they also lead their songs into mesmerizing instrumental parts that are verging on psychedelia. That in itself is a lovely combination. Add to that a charming lo-fi production and vocals from the other room (love that garage sound) and you have a beautiful journey through time and space and warbling guitars.

I am not too sure about the vocal decisions on some of the songs (there’s some grunge-Cobain flair on “Dead Faint” that can also be heard on “Immaculate Youth” that bothers me on these songs more than on others) but as with most post-punk outfits, the vocals are not  front and center and therefore merely raise an eyebrow.

One of the greatest things is the guitar work on the album. “Dead Faint”, for example, has a beautiful Smith’s guitar with a little Beach Boys-tinge that sounds outright sinister with all the bass b(l)ooming from the sidelines. Don’t forget, this genre lives and dies by the guitar and this one does amazing, sweetie.

Songs like “Camouflage” remind me of the big, gigantic 80s flashback of the early 2000s (Editors, Interpol, The Departure) as well as Black Rebel Motorcycle Club but with synths (!).
You can clearly hear that the band still is trying out a little which direction they want to take (they started out as a psychedelic band and moved more towards post-punk in recent years) but everything sounds cohesive enough for the experiments to be entertaining and part of the overall feel of the album. There’s a few songs I could take or leave (“Immaculate Youth” is a little bit too clichè which is not helped by the much stronger “Awake” preceding it).

This is some “A place to bury strangers“-video right here.

I also feel as if “Dreams” tries something that Echo & The Bunnymen perfected, which is the dreamy, slowed-down wave ballad. As it is, it also leans more towards the slightly unfinished cruise ship lounge-variety hour than “Ocean Rain” (but then again, Ian McCulloch is a singing power house).

But enough criticism, I am generally very fond of this album and will absolutely dig it up once Autumn hits Berlin, because 80s post-punk is the best for gloomy and rainy evenings. I especially applaud the track list because they throw the heavy songs right into your face at the beginning and only later show that they can also be a little more radio-friendly. In my case, those heavy songs were so interesting that I immediately wanted to write about the album, so kudos for that.

All in all: if you like blurry guitar sounds, melancholic vocals and long stretches of instrumentals lining your car rides, lonely walks or meaningful stares out of the windows, you’ve reached the right address with Mystery Art Orchestra.