Lindsay Misiner & the 7th Mystic creates music with many moving parts while maintaining a chill vibe and telling stories.
Sometimes, an album or musician will appear, and I will think to myself, “Dang, I have a lot of thoughts about this,” then it turns out that it’s not a lot of thoughts. It’s just a strong thought. Lindsay Misiner & the 7th Mystic and their self-titled album is one of those works that makes me feel a lot of one thing.
Initially, after listening to the album a few times, I really believed I had distinct thoughts about the individual songs. But as I struggled to put words to paper, I realized that Lindsay Misiner & the 7th Mystic does one thing well, in many different forms: they create music with many moving parts while maintaining a chill vibe and telling stories.
There is an attractive contrast between the music’s vocals and instrumental parts. The whole album makes for great close listening if that’s what you’re into, but it’s also very easy to just zone out and enjoy getting battered with the layers like waves washing up on a beach. Every listen-through can reveal something new on each song, not just in the content of the lyrics and the story within the music but also in the moving pieces of the bass, horns, guitar, drums, and of course, the many layers of vocal harmonies.
“Wise Man” is an excellent example of the variety of tones sustained throughout the album. Lindsay’s voice is both gritty and wispy, and the warmth of the bass and guitar contrasts perfectly against the vocal lead and harmonies. While listening, you don’t realize you need the horns until they come in and add an extra sultry feeling to the whole piece.
I would go through each song and point out how they’re different, but honestly, I’d say the same things repeatedly but with only minor differences. I think to understand my struggle to explain what makes each of these songs great adequately is simply by listening to them.
