REVIEW & INTERVIEW: MOOD ORGAN ‘SLIGHTSEEING’
The sleep-deprived 3 am is an intricate time of possibilities. Followed by a crisp crack, bizarre ideas and wild imaginations sneak out under the nightlight, dancing around in circles. Synchronicity playfully flirts and teases under the table; you’re confused yet more than certain at the same time. Madness or terrified? The mysterious entrance to the world of randomness appears out of nowhere. Slightseeing invites you to seek the answers yourself.
Acknowledging that you’re the stranger and tourist in the world of Slightseeing, flipping the roof off of their individual rooms, observing their life and struggles in god’s view:
Although the brain talks every day, pumping stupid ideas, wise observation with meaningless thoughts, and unstoppable desires, you may still be foreign to its own world. At 3 am, inspired by a conversation between Ben (bass) and Ev (lead vocal), “Brain Tourist” was created within 3 hours. When littering is damaging the environment, the alert goes off, and the brain is freaking out. “How do I call Gabe from the Green team? They don’t send around Newspaper no more,” the lyrics wrote.
Ventilations, cleaning service, comparing prices, weather forecasts, and tidal shifts, brain maintenance can be a lot. When it’s overloaded, it drools and mumbles, “not now I’m tired” while shooting out random phrases in its dream, “I know my way around/I think I’m losing my shit/It’s not in the bathroom or sofa/these bloody brain tourists.”
Inspired by horse people from Boots Riley’s Sorry to Bother You, “Life As a Horse” was written collectively by Mood Organ. The song can be interpreted in various ways, but it’s really just about a horse from the band's perspective.
“We slowly built up this image of a poor single father struggling to make ends meet, which is a very real problem, but the thing was he was still a horse, and towards the end of writing it, we realized we needed to add some more silly stuff, so that's where the passage about scurvy and, ‘this says a lot about society’ came from,” they said, “we realized it could be interpreted either as a critique of the capitalist status quo or a PARODY of said critique, but really it's just about a horse.”
It’s easy to become attached to the world of Slightseeing: the puppet hypnotized by the magician, frozen in its movement; the 3-year-old affirming “yeah” from Ollie (drum) sometimes leads to unexpected fantasies; even though you can’t comprehend Melanie, the crazy bean lady, you still look forward to the encounter. The nightlife fades in daybreak, but Slightseeing will always be there for you.
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