FUTURE DAYS

I want music that makes sense, and the music on Future Days makes no sense to me at all. All of it is just playing, playing, and more playing, with Damo Suzuki stepping in and mumbling every once in a while. Then the band is playing some more, and then some more, without any sense of direction, and I still see no elegance to it all. There are no motifs, and each one of these tracks features an unconvincing hook. I could only guess what is the meaning behind what could be perceived as improvisational meandering. Maybe the music is supposed to be a sonic stream of consciousness. Maybe the reason people like the album is the toned-down intensity in some places. On one occasion a fellow user of this site's forum made it clear to me that the "effervescent" atmosphere the music carries is the key. Let's just suppose that there is a reason why the band pulled off such a cold musical feat. But then I can only conclude that this reason is not very clear to me, and the band should have worked on that.

Now, Can are known for their technical capacity and stylistic diversity (especially when we are talking about the brains of the band's guitarist Michael Karoli). Given the aforementioned lack of direction of the music, the band made it impossible for me to see any display of talent. As per the incorporation of styles, all I can hear is smooth exotic music mixed with experimentation, with the exception of the poppy "Moonshake" with its shallow pop sensibilities.

I do not hate Future Days at all. I just do not see a single solid musical (let alone lyrical) point made on it. There is no essence standing out to my feeble mind. One could only imagine how this record is on its own. Also, granted the many testimonies that I've read so far about this album, it only makes sense for me to conclude that this is not a poor piece of work and that it is actually recommendable. Unfortunately, it is hard to tell whom I should recommend Future Days to. The best I can do is this: I can recommend it to people who fancy the combination of minimalism, mild-to-wild (but mostly mild) sonic experiments, lengthy jams, and the variety in drum work dynamics, from gentle to intense (thanks to Mr. Jaki Liebezeit).

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