Alec Ounsworth's Mo' Beauty

Track List:
1. "Modern Girl (...with scissors)" - 3:46
2. "Bones in the Grave" - 3:25
3. "Holy, Holy, Holy Moses (Song for New Orleans)" - 3:36
4. "That is Not My Home (after Bruegel)" - 3:57
5. "Idiots in the Rain" - 4:12
6. "South Philadelphia (Drug Days)" - 3:43
7. "What Fun." - 3:16
8. "Me and You, Watson" - 3:41
9. "Obscene Queen Bee #2" - 4:26
10. "When You've No Eyes" - 5:17

There are a few different ways to look at this album. If you take Ounsworth’s word for it, Mo’ Beauty is simply his fourth album. But the reality is a little more complicated. By his account, Some Loud Thunder was a Clap Your Hands album because that’s who happened to be around when he was working on those songs. Flashy Python or his “solo” effort shouldn’t be seen as departures from Clap Your Hands, they should just be seen as what he is up to now. As much as I’d like to, I find it a little hard to believe in the hipster idealism behind that sort of statement. CYHSY more or less became the poster boys for indie music with their self-titled, self-released debut, and that was a difficult role for the notorious fame shirker. The resentment of this status in the bombastic and deliberately under-produced Some Loud Thunder feels a little like Alex Chilton’s Third/Sister Lover. Both albums are complete combinations of brilliance and frustration with a hint of self sabotage, which could be coincidental, but logic suggests otherwise. If it was hard to imagine the self titled follow up, then it’s downright impossible to imagine Some Loud Thunder’s. So when I heard Ounsworth was releasing two albums from different projects this year, it made sense.

What is surprising to me is how much more I like Mo’ Beauty than Skin and Bones. When I heard Flashy Python was a collaboration of some of my favorite Philadelphians, The Walkmen, Dr. Dog and Man Man, I expected something a little more primal and a little less difficult. The intentions behind Mo’ Beauty are a little more unambiguous. It’s not supposed to be any sort of grand statement, just the result of Ounsworth taking some of his unreleased material to New Orleans and letting the music flow with a dozen or so local pros. The result is an unpretentious exploration of life after Clap Your Hands.

Mo’ Beauty has the sense of organic beauty that has been missing since the first Clap Your Hands record. Out of the two releases this year, this is the one that seemed destined for overextension, but instead it’s the breeziest album Ounsworth has ever made. The instrumentation is downright sparse until we get to “That is Not My Home (After Bruegel)” where he proves he knows exactly when to flex the muscle. This is the album’s best and possibly Ounsworth’s best. It’s impressive how at home his signature squawk feels in front of such an expansive band. “Modern Girl (…with scissors)” and “Bones in the Grave” are meandering blues tinged gems, but they don’t have the transcendent qualities you’d expect from this little focus group of talent. They’re excellent tracks, but honestly I found myself wondering if they wouldn’t have been better in the brutish self-released distortion. “Holy, Holy, Holy Moses (song for New Orleans)” is the first really new sounding Ounsworth track. It’s also easily the prettiest track to date (yes, including “Sunshine and Clouds”). This album is more of a typical side project than Flashy Python in the embrace of Ounsworth’s full vocal range. Essentially, if you were wondering what else Ounsworth can do besides Clap Your Hands, this is it.

The flow Ounsworth was hoping to find is certainly evident. Sometimes it’s hard to understand when a group of people record an album and stick one guy’s name on it. This time it makes sense. Ounsworth takes firm command of the helm and the band follows his still wavering but larger than ever vocal lead everywhere it goes. Mo’ Beauty indeed.