The second CD of
Paul Mounsey, released in 1997 as a followup to
Nahoo. Nahoo Too is much more electronic and borrows more from
American rock than the Brazillian influences that dominated the previous album. While ultimately not as powerful as the first, Nahoo Too demonstrates a maturation in Mounsey's sound, and is full of some incredible moments ("Fall", "North", and "Mhairead Og II" are definite highlights). With that said, this is probably Mounsey's
weakest disc overall, but it is still definitely worth hearing. Nahoo Too is vastly
easier to obtain than
Nahoo, and can be imported through Amazon if you're willing to pay the
import fee. It is without question Paul Mounsey's most well-known work, and you may be surprised at the
odd places you can find it.
Tracklist:
- Remembrance
- Wherever You Go
- North
- Infinite Contempt
- Another Clearance
- Kaiwa Farewell
- Psalm
- Turned on the Dog
- Nahoo
- Fields of Robert John
- Fall
- Mhairead Og I
- Mhairead Og II
- Red River
- Hope You're Not Guilty
- Nahoo Reprise
- Lullaby
Reviews of Selected Tracks
"Remembrance" begins the disc with an echoing digiridoo sound, with strange, distorted vocals in Gaelic, then launches into an upbeat, peppy marimba loop. Throughout the entire album, there is a tone of joy and wonder that was almost completely missing from Nahoo. In my opinion, this is a weaker point simply because Nahoo's sense of joy came from the music itself, not from the music being specifically created "happy" to begin with. But I digress... "Remembrance" is a fabulous, lush track, full of flutes, chanting, piano, and more. Very "World Music", much more so than we're used to hearing from comrade Mounsey. Always better than I remember it!
"North" is absolutely amazing. A violin solo, layered over a dark, thick backdrop of sounds and rhythms, transforms into a gritty heavy-metal anthem. Somehow, though, it retains its beautiful humanity; instead of becoming vacant and abstract, it seems even more timeless the more "modern" it gets. A true new classic of the World Music genre, and one that I can't imagine anyone could ever hate.
"Fall" is another breathtaking piece. This is based on "The Silent Cascade", a classical piece by an artist whose name escapes me at the moment. It's full of lush piano melodies and delay effects, eventually roaring into a cinematic tour-de-force featuring low, ominous strings. Very mysterious and exhilarating!
There are many other great songs on the album, but I really don't have time to review them all... these three are certainly my favorites, however, and good choices for first listens, if you can locate the disc somewhere. A great album by a talented, non-mainstream musician--how can you go wrong?