I like to ponder impossibilities. What would Prokofiev think if he were to walk this Earth again? Would he even recognise the outpouring of the technology slaves as music or would he simply walk on by in search of the wild side that caused him to create the kind of music that will live all the way from his mortal existence to infinity? It is an interesting thought for the philosophers amongst you, yet I think that the musical maestro of the past would pause to listen to “Everywhere Else Left Behind” by Saigon Would Be Seoul.
Saigon Would Be Seoul – aka Mirza Ramic of Arms and Sleepers – is cut from a deeper and darker cloth than most of his contemporaries and this album contains pensive and elegant musical meditations that, like Prokofiev, seem drawn from a well of great emotional depth and, whilst less flamboyant than the Russian maestro, Saigon would be Seoul is nonetheless effective in both his execution and in his choice of artistic direction. “Everywhere Else Left Behind” isn’t, therefore, an album of soundtrack cues nor is it an album in the determined to be different modern classical vein and, while there are pretentious moments where narrations from worthy texts are used as the sort of punctuation that makes music acceptable to the arthouse crowd, these interludes seem forgivable in the context of the obvious musical eloquence on show here.
So, Saigon Would Be Seoul provides us with proof that the skill, dexterity and commitment that made the greats of classical music immortal still has a place in the modern world and “Everywhere Else Left Behind” is therefore an album that should be welcomed by those who know that music is more than just an accompaniment to advertising.
Best Song? “Meditations In An Emergency”.
The verdict? An elegant and satisfying album.