| Definition | 2001 |
Audima are a group out of Michigan led by John Woodruff. That's really all I know about the band themselves besides the other little sippets found at their website (http://www.audima.net). They've had but one album, which I was lucky enough to discover. I suppose the only other thing I can say is that their tunes are on Audiogalaxy. Go get 'em. Or read the review first.
--Robert Grazer
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(reviewed by Robert Grazer)
HIGH POINTS: All. LOW POINTS: None.
If you want to know the truth the first couple of years of these 00s have kinda sucked. You look at the first few years of the 90s and you'll see major revolutionary albums (Nevermind, Screamadelica) and classic gems (Automatic For the People, Beyond Nature) popping up everywhere. In the first couple years of this decade, what have we seen that's truly impressive? Kid A? The Strokes? The Marshall Mathers LP? Yeah, right. I can count the great albums over the past couple years on one hand. There's little that's interested me at all, and even less that's been able to hold my interest all the way through. Even some of my past favorites have disappointed me. Damn shame.
It's time for a new band to claim the title of best band around now, and Audima could well be it. The opening paragraph here was just a build-up to a pretentious statement like that, but I honestly don't know where to begin when reviewing this album. I received one of their songs over an Audiogalaxy group, and when I put it on for the first time, I knew that I'd found something truly good. Audima's one of those bands that pull inlfuences from everywhere and still blend them together to sound unique in their own way. There's particuarly a lot of jazzy sorts of stuff flowing through this album, mixed with some indie of sorts, maybe even a bit of new wave thrown in there too. But it's still incredibly mellow. Yet so intense. It's a contradiction, yet consistent, moving through different moods and feelings in a melodic, quiet, and reflective way, the sort of music that I often find myself most impressed by.
Definition is a concept album. But looking for actions and events you won't find much to be excited by. There's very little in the way of events here, a guy goes for a run in the woods for most of the album, but the exploration of his mind is no less than stunning, and the lyrics so beautifully paint the picture of his thoughts and feelings that for me to even attempt to go into any details would be an insult to the words. Without the music to present them, they really aren't going to make any sort of impression. At least I don't think so. Still, there I might have to quote just a phrase or two, just because I can't help it. The concept also shows in the song titles themselves, which are merely definitions in themselves, maybe for whatever the word 'audima' means, maybe of what the song titles would have been. Somehow it gives a better description of the song than a traditional title would have, I think, with such titles here being "A Feeling of Amazement and Fear Coupled With a Feeling of Insignificance" and "A Lack of Systematic Arrangement".
We begin with quiet acoustic strumming in "To Express Unhappiness About Something", beginning vocals, quiet, setting the scene eventually backed by an organ to set the mood. It's followed by the bass-driven "A Lack of Systematic Arrangement", building up the drama until the guy actually begins his run, and we hit the first of three instrumentals in the album, "A State of Uncontrolled Activity". It's led by a piano line that flies all over the place, but keeps from being too zany, holding the listener's interest all the way through. It's artsy, jazzy, and sticking somethng that's chaotic into the middle of such a beautifully structured album is certainly a risk, but if the result is like what we have here, then dammit, more bands should take risks like this.
The epic "A Feeling of Amazement and Fear Coupled With a Feeling of Insignificance" is over seven and a half-minutes, and is built around a very slow build-up (kinds sounds a bit like the Pumpkins' "1979" in places), but why am I not bored in the least? Is it because the build-up is truly soothing? Or that the climax is more than worth it? Probably both. And it moves straight through into "To Make Thoughts And Feelings Known To Others", which then works the oppostie way, taking the already climactic tune and moving it back to the gentle acoustic work we had before, reflecting on the sight our character just witnessed. The second instrumental, a quiet acoustic interlude, "The Process of Seperating Somebody From Others", repeats a simple riff for a couple minutes, leaving more room for reflection and thought, as well as preparation, as the real power of this album hasn't even begun yet.
Only one of the vocal tunes is truly up beat and rocking, and "A Feeling of Doubt About Your Own Worth And Abilities" really does rock, one of the absolute best songs of its kind and, along with The Smiths' "Bigmouth Strikes Again", the one song I can never seem to crank up loud enough. Equipped with one of the absolute best vocal melodies I've ever heard in my life, and an amazing chord sequence all in glorious 3/4 time (my favorite time signature!). This is honestly one of the most powerful musical statements I've ever heard in my life, and it may not even be the best track on the album.
"A Difficult Situation That Will Provide Information About Somebody" builds out of the fadeout with weird guitar noises and sounds of a storm building up the atmosphere. And the riff is simplistic, yet powerful. Beautiful. But all of that means nothing when the majesty of the chorus rings in, and you can see exactly the kind of intensity Audima can deliver. "To Try Very Hard To Deal With A Challenge" picks up right after Woodruff's last cry, the final instrumental beginning with a 7/8 guitar solo, slowly winding into an even more impressive organ solo that works so incredibly well. An so in three songs we've had a climax that dwarves almost any other from any concept album.
But two track still reamain to sort things out. "A State Of Mental Calm And Serenity, With No Anxiety" begins the resolution of our journey, mellow, once agian, but made so powerful with Woodruff's moving vocals, the "Oh, and tomorrow" line in particular being the sort of thing that brings out peaceful feelings in me I didn't know existed. And still the final, and maybe best, track on the album remains. the song that made me an Audima lover even before I heard the rest of the album, "The Quality of Being Modest or Respectful". One of the all-time best solos plays out over another beautiful acoustic pattern, until Woodruff's voice echoes with the line: "And I know I will sometime... just not tonight". Every bit of the album that has been explored before is now summed up in a single line, a final statement before the closing thoughts and end of Definition.
An amazing album. Everything bubbles over at every single turn, the ideas, atmosphere, feeling, all bound together by a remarkable sense of melody. I haven't heard too many albums like it, and I haven't heard too many albums better than it. I'd go so far as to say that this ranks even higher in my books than such greats as Abbey Road, Animals and Close To The Edge. It's that incredible. Now Audima are going to be faced with the incredible task of following it up, and I do hope that they can come up with something at least half as brilliant as this is.
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