Mood Mechanics - The Cool Uncollected Sessions

Mood Mechanics

The Cool Uncollected Sessions
self-released; 2013

3.7 out of 5

By Ted Rogen

Mood Mechanics is a group from North Carolina who formed in 2010 as a long-distance recording project. Brian Obernesser and Logan Tabor were living in separate cities but were still able to write and record their first release entitled Manzari. After some accolades for their live shows they decided to create a series of live video performances that was called The Cool Uncollected Sessions. There are four really well put together videos showing the band playing live in the studios. The songs sound great and reminded me a lot of when Radiohead released a similar type of video series called From The Basement that showed them live and raw. It’s hard after watching the videos to go back to just listening to music even if for the simple fact that it’s fun to watch technically proficient musicians do their thing.

The first song “Credit Carpenters” starts off with no ambient intro or solo guitar riff that separate it from the rest of the song. The drums and guitars start together as the vocalist sings “Lend me your ears for a minute, I swear I’m not tripping I just got it figured out.”  It was a treat watching the drummer harmonize live with the lead vocalist who has a great indie rock voice. It’s a bit stoic and he can also pull off a falsetto voice pretty effectively. He actually sounded a bit like Paul Banks from Interpol. Next up on their video series is “Give Back,” which is more laid back than the first song. The subtle percussive elements and cool sounding guitar added a spacious atmosphere to the main guitar riff. I would have sworn if I weren’t watching the video that I would have confused the synth strings for actual violins. It sounded great and really filled out the music. The singer sticks to a high octave range the entire time and it works well with the song. 

“Sitting Ducks” may be the most commercially appealing song and also the most melancholy. It soars triumphantly and occasionally achieves epic heights. They close with an instrumental number called “Cool Uncollected.” It’s an infectious cascading lead guitar part with a dancey bass that veers into shades of post-rock. Imagine The Strokes taking a stab at post-rock and pulling it off. 

The video series is fun way to enjoy the music of Mood Mechanics. They have a solid lineup of musicians and I can't think of a better way to enjoy these songs besides seeing them live.

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