Search - Incredible Moses Leroy :: Become the Soft Lightes

A Happy Album - Recommended!

Phillip Harrington | Deerfield Beach, FL USA | 11/11/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Rob Fountenberry and crew do it again! The overall feeling of Become the Soft Lightes is one of happiness and joy. This is a very positive album. This release is more cohesive than his previous release, Electric Pocket Radio. The songs are more in the indie/electric/pop/vien. Less rock or jazz cuts on this album. I personally somewhat miss the guitars from "Anthem" and "My Best Friend" on EPR, but this album will not disappoint true IML fans. There's still a taste of the guitar on track 3, "Transmission C." The odd mix of live instruments, keyboards and samples predominate the arrangements on this album. The groves are simple and the chord progressions are mellow. No harsh sounds on this one. Rob's songwriting also matures on this album, with some tracks having a middle-8/bridge or alternate chorus. Miho Hatori guests on track 4, "The Color of Sky." Her voice, reminiscent of The Cranberrys, The Sundays or Leig Nash is pure delight and a welcome addition to this album. The first few tracks are threaded together with outdoor/ambient noise between them, while some later tracks overlap fade-in, fade-outs. This is bad for your CD player's "shuffle" mode, but makes for a smooth blend when played in order. Highly recommended, even for new listeners of IML. Great introduction to the artist!"

Please Don't Yell At Me

Owen Shiflett | LA, CA | 08/16/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"The success of pop music, infectious beats, charmingly simple lyrics, and enough energy to keep you humming, was performed in its various forms with surprising promise in Incredible Moses Leroy's first full length Electric Pocket Radio. The album serves more as a pop autuer's (Leroy's alter-ego Ron Fountenberry) eclectic sampler, an appetizer for a main course of popular music ingenuity. It's hard to believe a man and a four-track could produce such catchy spins while remaining simple enough to appeal to the masses. With his voice, a velvet comb-over to his minimalist melodies, crooning the slumber party dance-alongs could continue ("Fuzzy", "1983"). With his bass thumping and acoustic electronica soaring the drive on the open road could be a stage for karaoke wannabes ("Our One Millionth Customer," "My Best Friend"). With such promise shown in pop creativity where should such an artist proceed?



In Become the Soft Lightes, Leroy's latest, he takes a color from his palette and paints pictures using that color and nothing else. What would Wyeth's Christina's World look like if it were painted in nothing but shades of green? It certainly wouldn't be quite a striking portrait, not without such a hook to remember it by. Such is the case with Become the Soft Lightes; it is an excellent album, but a truly one dimensional offering.



Take for instance Transmission C, one of the better, catchier tunes. The song begins with ambiguous overtones and a murky moog lighting a way down the path to unadulterated joy. Near perfect set up, for the intensely catchy tune. As soon as he begins crooning, we're stuck on the other side, and we're enjoying it. Sunshine, birds chirping, people dancing barefoot on fresh cut grass. Yes its something to behold.



The Color of Sky shows us around this strange new place. Exploration and pure bliss, his songs were made for beautiful female voices (like Miho Hatori's) and cloud counting. Proving Fountenberry could always fall back on his producing skills if his solo career fell flat.



Other songs that really find their stride in this setting: Country Robot, LOVE, Fourth of July, and the 4a (although I much prefer the version on the EP). So that's a lot of good songs, if you like that dow-eyed sunshiny bliss, which I do, but it seems like he's capable of much more. Even on the gimick tracks he seems to be overextending his same theme. The Hokey Pokey song as a metaphor for love... I guess, but come on...



Not a bad album, in fact in the iTunes generation where songs seem to be more valued than the album's grand statement, its a success. Several songs that will surely find their way onto mix tapes (CD's) for that special someone, but he's not reaching his full potential. It's just sophmore blues, and by senior year I'm confident Foutenberry will be painting Christina's World in technicolor."

A frequent listen

Mark T | St. Louis | 07/01/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I really like Electric Pocket Radio and I think I may like this one more. It's highly listenable, fun to sing along with, great car music. Very poppy. Very simple. Very nice."