Wisdom Of Crowds - Wisdom Of Crowds (Album Review)
Thursday, 20 June 2013
Written by Ben Bland
The Pineapple Thief’s Bruce Soord and Katatonia’s Jonas Renkse have something in common. Rather unfairly, they are both best known for being in the shadow of other musicians. Soord will always be dogged by his association with Steven Wilson and Porcupine Tree, no matter what he produces, while Renkse is inexorably linked to his close friend Mikael Åkerfeldt and Opeth. Wisdom of Crowds presents an opportunity for both to gain the recognition they deserve.
It would help, though, if it sounded less like a predictable union of their two day jobs. Renkse’s vocals are unmistakable to anyone who’s heard a latter-day Katatonia record, and on ‘Wisdom of Crowds’ they continue to occupy pretty much the same territory, especially as the musical landscapes are not a million miles away from the “cold wave” of Katatonia’s 2012 effort ‘Dead End Kings’.
Neither are they too far from some of Soord’s previous efforts with the Pineapple Thief. Their 2010 album ‘Someone Here is Missing’, in particular, carries numerous sonic links ‘Wisdom of Crowds’.
This is solid, if predominantly unspectacular, post-‘Kid A’ alternative rock. Downtempo electronic elements are weaved in alongside understated guitars, but once again the result is not drastically different from anything Soord and Renkse have done before.
If anything there is a slightly heavier pop influence at work here, especially on the excellent Pleasure and Frozen North, but every time that threatens to take complete hold we are reminded that we’re listening to slightly more “serious” artists by virtue of gloomy lyrical content and songs that trot on for at least a couple of minutes longer than needed.
What makes all this even more frustrating is that this record is unlikely to reach the ears of those who are not already fans of either the Pineapple Thief or Katatonia. Said fans will probably enjoy this collaboration, but it makes it hard to understand the real point of Wisdom of Crowds as a project.
The most interesting moments are those when the atmosphere approaches the smoky darkness of trip hop legends Massive Attack and Portishead, but such points are swiftly reeled in by predictable guitar crescendos. As such, ‘Wisdom of Crowds’ cannot help but feel disappointing. There is potential in this project but at the moment it feels like a record of musical safety nets rather than one of genuine conviction and experimentation.
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