Mahogany Frog
DO5
MoonJune Records

The cover of Mahogany Frog's DO5 CD depicts vintage synthesizers popping out of a tube-amplified bread toaster, so obivously we're in for some kind of retro experience here. Those familiar with the MoonJune label know that this label operate within a wide field between experimental jazz and progressive rock (or vice versa!). Mahogany Frog easily fit here with their instrumental space-jazz-prog-fusion excursions. Not as keyboard dominated as the cover art would suggest, guitars in various forms make up equally as essential parts of the sound. They are not afraid to rock out, stepping on their (tube-driven ...) fuzzboxes when needed.

The album is varied enough, also within each song, to invite to repeated listening, despite a high level of intensity in parts. Syncopating galore, the melodic themes vary from the calm to the quirky, the synth sounds range from cheesy to spacey. I'm no expert, but I guess we hear a lot of "authentic" analogue sounds here (at least that's the message sent by listing equipment like Moog, Farfisa & Korg). The use of trumpets adds to this organic feeling - like on "Last Stand At Fisher Farm", which is a funny take on a western theme. The will to experiment and an eclectic mix of influences make this an exciting bag of jazz-rock/fusion, but it can be an exhausting listening experience at times. By the way, the title can easily be read as "DOS", another retro message perhaps ...?

Copyright © 2009 Knut Tore Breivik