There’s something about 8 minute songs. Its like they have plenty of time to stretch out, breathe and invite you to really get to know the artist. I’m always a sucker for anything that’s even slightly progressive, so when I got the opportunity to review “Overthinking Conversations” by I Am The Mountain, I jumped at the chance.
This is a song that maintained my interest throughout. This is intelligent, well thought out, well structured pure class.
It starts gently and uses a kind of effect on the drums, reminiscent of “In The Air Tonight” by Phil Collins. As the song develops I heard obvious influences from the likes of Pink Floyd and Dire Straits, and many other greats that every band dreams of being likened to.
I love the rise and fall of this track. The changes in tempo. The changes in time signature and even the genre changes which work well, despite one moment you feel as though you’re in a smoky jazz club and the next you’re at a full on rock concert with a vocalist on his knees giving the performance of his life. The changes are smooth and they work.
I’m hooked! I’m a sucker for a horn section and the unusual addition of expertly played trombone hit the spot for me.
The vocalist has some real moments in this. Moments that made me think that after they recorded this, he probably had to sit and calm down in a darkened room for a while! He gave this everything.
Photo credit; William Geier
Looking at the production, there are places in the track where there’s plenty of stereo and other places where there feels there’s none. Perhaps this was intentional? I’d look at increasing the top and bottom end of the EQ spectrum on the overall master to bring out a little more clarity in the drums.
I loved this epic so much that I’ve just spent some time remastering it a little. I’d love the opportunity to show this to the band, although I know that the track is already released.
Really great stuff from a new favourite for us here at Send Me Your Ears. We give this song four ears out of five.
