Seeing Sounds

N.E.R.D. members’ rich imagination

What talents do the young progressive producers Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo not possess! The works of their tandem The Neptunes are famous around the globe, and the voice of Pharrell has refined many contemporary artists’ albums. Yet a lot of different people have a common opinion that it is only in their project N.E.R.D. that the guys have revealed all of their talents. They organized it in 2001 with another producer Shay who has quite an original approach to music. Today the guys present the fans with the third album already that got named Seeing Sounds. The artists got the inspiration for making this record from a program they saw on the Discovery Channel telling of an unusual phenomenon of synesthesia which is a combination of two different ways of perception. For example one can see what one hears or taste what one touches. Recording Seeing Sounds the members of N.E.R.D. imagined how their new music might look like and put the most appropriate image in their opinion on the album cover, which is a monster gorilla symbolizing power and sound volume of the new material.

Simple themes leave much space for experiment

A powerful music full of energy presented on Seeing Sounds is a great continuation of band N.E.R.D.’s creative work. Simple themes, from relationship to entertainment leave much space for experimenting so one will surely not feel bored listening to the record. The album opens with composition Time For Some Action, beginning with the accompaniment of a cartoon music and gradually grows into a great combination of a faultless bass line and a break beat. Single Everyone Nose (All The Girls Standing In The Line For The Bathroom) is a bit reminiscent of Beastie Boys’ works with the screaming chorus and drums agglomeration but the inclusions of piano make this piece special. On a march composition Windows the work of The Neptunes can be clearly recognized whereas another single Spaz is remarkable for a complicated many layered sounding that is a combination of live instruments and computer processing. The longest composition on the album is the most melodious one, Sooner or Later, about the short duration of relationships and success pleasing with Pharrell’s amazing singing and the back vocals reminding of early The Beatles. Optimistic Happy is remarkable for a misbalance between the vocals and the accompaniment which is difficult to perceive, while Kill Joy is a heavier number perfect for a spy movie soundtrack. Pharrell’s romantic nature is revealed on Love Bomb and the album closer is another complicated and heavy composition Laugh About It which is also quite good for dancing.

Seeing Sounds leaves its predecessors far behind

Project N.E.R.D. has embodied its authors’ beliefs that are put briefly in the title which means No-one Ever Really Dies, the guys believe in the existence of soul. Of course it is also important to leave a trace in the history and the project fulfills the function better than anything. The first album of N.E.R.D. In Search Of... was recorded twice in 2001: first Williams and Hugo made it similar to their previous works but soon decided that they had to find a new sounding for the new project and re-recorded the album with a band Spymob adding more alternative rock elements to it. On the sophomore effort, 2004’s Fly or Die the producers went on exploring the new territory but then they could already boast with having learnt to play certain musical instruments, so the record became a kind of debut for them. Finally among numerous tours the artists have found time for recording Seeing Sounds. This work definitely takes off where the second album ended, but gains momentum very quickly leaving the predecessors far behind. Nobody knows what is going to inspire the musicians next time but one can be sure that they will offer us something worthy and as impressive as Seeing Sounds.