Texas power-poppers or harmony rockers (whichever you prefer) Cotton Mather and their main brain Robert Harrison (I guess the same last name with certain Mr. George from Liverpool is no coincidence) have been around for some 20 years now, and have provided us with some exceptional power pop, exceptional harmonies and songwriting and a lot of comparisons with The Beatles. Their album “Kon-Tiki” is considered s one of the masterpieces of the genre, even though their output hasn’t been that productive.
But then recently Harrison came up with the idea to do a series of albums that would present his vision of the “I Ching”, the Chinese “Book of Changes”. He and the band started the project off with last year's “Death of The Cool” album, and are continuing it with the current “Wild Kingdom”. Such, shall we say heavy projects by pop/rock musicians, often produce disasters. They get into a subject matter they are not entirely familiar with and they try to give their interpretation of it. Harrison definitely finds an elegant solution to the problem - the whole I Ching story is just a remote starting point, as on the previous album on the theme, here he also uses the “Changes” premise and I Ching’s hexagrams as a starting point for his own musings.
Frankly, that is quite a relief, since the music the lyrics are integrated with wouldn’t bear it. Not that it is simple in any way, but as Harrison exclaims in the introductory “The Cotton Mather Pledge” - “It’s rock ‘n’ roll!” And it's exactly what it is. Not much more, and definitely nothing less. Cotton Mather was always a great guitar-pop band, and they remain to be so. The music never suffers nor is it contrived, and Harrison decided this time around to add some Sixties soul touches that fully complement the sound. The uncanny vocal reminders of The Beatles are still here, and as far as I’m concerned, they are very welcome. In all this, Harrison is often able to come along with a serious message he wants to pass along (for example, “High Society”), but in his hands and those of the band, it is like one of those chocolates spiced with a child pepper.
If Cotton Mather and Robert Harrison continue in this manner, they might give Stephen Merritt and his “69 Love Songs” a run for their money.
