NO CHINA DOLL FOR YOU

The 22nd Mutiny in Jonestown studio album, "No China Doll for You" is mostly a return to a more keyboard dominated sound than recent albums. The opening track is the 9 and a half minute, "Nyctalops" that opens with a swirling keyboard wash before moving into the more guitar driven verses which hold down the background under highly processed vocals. The lyrics for the piece are actually a poem by Lovecraft contemporary Clark Ashton Smith. The song passes through many sections, some in very odd time signatures with polyrhythms before crashing into a light guitar and mellotron dominated place that slowly builds back up to return to the guitar dominated and vocally processed verses that began the song. "Best" is a slow heavily swirling string synthesizer dominated piece. "Wish to Wish" picks up the pace and leads into the highlight of the album, the nearly 10 minute long, "Curse of the Sea". The band tears into the piece with a very oddly timed guitar solo which eventually exits to nightmarish mellotron washes that lead into the vocals. The vocals are played in a ¾ time with acoustic guitar accompaniment that sounds rather like an 18th century sea shanty. The song continues the ¾ feel moving into a heavy section that closes this tale of devil's triangles and lost ships.

The remaining songs paint different pictures with heavy doses of mellotron and swirling strings forming the backgrounds. "Mary" stands out from the rest as a punk like sounding song. The lyrics are inspired by stories of people desperately looking for a sign that the Virgin Mary is present to rescue us from our seemingly evil paths to self destruction. The final verse of the song tells of their search, "In the desert of Mohave photograph the setting sun. Hope for outlines of the Virgin, look just right you might see one!" The album fittingly ends with, "Hymn 2011" which wonders if the Mayan calendar terminating in 2011 is just a coincidence or does it mean our destruction is at hand?

Whether the world was destined to end in 2011 or not (obviously not), "No China Doll For You" is the last Mutiny in Jonestown album before a 6 year hiatus. I believe this is a very strong album both musically and lyrically that prog fans will find many things to like or even love about. While the songs aren't related to any specific concept, they all create a self contained world that moves among many styles in the best spirit of eclectic prog. For that reason, I'm giving this one 5 stars.

This album is my favorite out of all MIJ albums I've listened to ! Dense in alternating various immersive moods, from eerie moments ( lots of tension, the music seems to have been designed so as to have Lovecraft monsters appear ) to comforting moments. The lyrics hint at romantic / fantastic litterature, some are about hope and fulfilment. Both the music and the lyrics (all by one single author, and a musical world with strong identity ) though an excerpt from a poem by Clark Ashton Smith was used for the first piece are worth my time and focus at listening.

For the anecdote, Porcelaine, one of the pretty lot of "earworms" one can find in MIJ (though definitely not elevator music's earworms !! best, Wish to Wish, Arianna are in the list ) reminds me of Depeche Mode ! I'm less into the two last tracks, otherwise I dare consider this one standing out as my nr one by MIJ (and what I enjoy in it I prefer to a huge mountain of other projects !).