By Nelson Heise

It makes sense to respect something but not necessarily like it, to see the artistic integrity but not necessarily enjoy it or be overwhelmed by it? Maybe that is just a gigantic oxymoron. Either way, Graham Sedam’s solo project- Mess of it ALL’s first album “Stages and Cycles” is interesting collection of polished tunes that ultimately left me flat. A couple tracks were pretty tight, but in general I got lost in the synths and drum machines to really find anything to hold on too. Is it creative? Yes. Is there diversity to the music? Yes, but even the heavier grooves don’t seem entice me, while the more mellow movements are repetitive and just drag.

What shines brightly on this collection of fourteen, well produced tracks are songs like “The Real You” a nice and jangly guitar number that feels more authentic then some of the other tracks. Also “Pallas Athena” has a nice keyboard part before it gets lost in the heavy chorus. Mess of it ALL’s  website states “The journey that Graham Sedam took to get to Mess of it ALL was long, but in hindsight, seems a straight one. Mess of it ALL is one result of Graham being in bands, and being frustrated by the lack of control a lead singer has over the music in a band. So Graham decided to go it alone.” I can dig that, in fact just went through that process myself. What is nice about this album is that what you hear is what you get from Graham. While it did not float my boat musically, I return to the fact that I do have respect for the effort.

www.messofitall.net

Filed under: Music Reviews