Mighty Horse – Road Movie Dream (Album Review)

Today on Music Review World, we have an artist that will definitely quench the thirst of anyone who has a soft spot for slightly eclectic alternative rock. The artist is question is ‘Mighty Horse’, with the release of their epic double album titled ‘ROAD MOVIE DREAM‘. It is an 18-track opus spanning rock, dub, psychedelia, ska, americana and post-punk. It’s available as a double vinyl album, and on all streaming platforms. Mighty Horse is a four-piece band, with Tony Jackson on the lead vocals and guitar, as well as vocals, keys and drums from Ben Roberts, additional guitar and vocals from Ryan Sweeney, and bass from Ian Sheward.

I’m sure you’re wondering: who releases a double album in this day and age? The last time I was aware of any kind of double album was Michael Jackson’s double album release with HIStory. Here’s a little scene to help illustrate their intent:

“Is it too late to talk you out of a double?” asked the owner of one of Castlemaine’s finest music venues, worried that in the age of digitally diminished attention spans…“Nobody has the brain space for a double”, to which Castlemaine resident, and Mighty Horse singer/songwriter Tony Jackson dusted down his velvet smoking jacket and proclaimed “we are the f#%king resistance!” True story, except for maybe the velvet smoking jacket.
Rewind to January 2020, Mighty Horse are about to enter the studio to record their 2nd LP when the big C virus shuts down the planet. Fast forward a few years and as the world is released bleary eyed from its prison cell Mighty Horse are faced with an existential crisis. Forced entrapment has produced another swag of songs and now they have two albums to record. “How many times in one lifetime will you have the chance to make a double LP?” questioned a wise voice from the sidelines… “Good point that, let’s get to it!”

Road Movie Dream was also recorded live at Soundpark Studios in Northcote Melbourne, with overdubs and production trickery added at the band’s own studio in Castlemaine. Much like their intimate and explosive live performances, the album is a diverse journey held together by distinctive energy and chutzpah.

Let’s get into the album!

Upon listening to the first half of the album, I can’t help but synthesize this release as the culmination of a lot of alternative rock acts from the early to mid 2000s. The mastering is extremely crisp, but the genres that float throughout this act do not necessarily deviate from musical genres that already exist, facing me with a slight crisis as I don’t think it has enough musical variability. However, I admit that’s just my personal bias. I think the excitability factor will definitely resonate with a lot of people who need music simply to let loose and catch a vibe with others.

There’s fragments of all known rock genres littered throughout the composition of all of these songs, with certain bass clips analogous to 80s rock, some melodic quirks will also remind you of the grungy-kinderwhore aesthetic, and in that sense, it gives the listener a bit of an exciting game to play while listening to this.

In the middle of the album, there’s a switch to dub, which is interesting, but to my ears, it isn’t that revolutionary. I think the gist and marketing arc of this release deals with the INTERSECTION of multiple genres, and I have to commend the artist(s) for executing this perfectly with no real offense, but I don’t particularly hear any compositional innovation to necessarily wow me. Perhaps my standards are a bit too picky, and I acknowledge that while still acknowledging the band’s competency.

If this band wants to stand out, I definitely do recommend employing different quirks that don’t make their music necessarily pigeonholed to a particular aesthetic or varying things like time signatures and grooves. It’s good music, but to my ears and relative to the scope of music out there, it doesn’t necessarily stick out.

However, if you’re simply looking for music that helps you to connect with a variety of stories and emotional troughs while retaining an essence of edge and folkish roots to it, I think this is definitely the album for you. It has tenderness and ferocity mixed into one, a great trait for alternative music acts to display. There is also a lot of competency within the individual instrumentalists, and you can hear that within the solos of each songs and how the instruments blend well with each other- that is the strength of this album.

SCORE/Excellent: Even though I’ve elaborated a lot on the predictability of this release, I still think that ROAD MOVIE DREAM is a wonderfully passionate album that strives to stand out with quality rather than its unique qualities. It has an appeal to people who are definitely looking for alternative/rock music with more safe yet eclectic qualities.

[We rank singles, EPs, and albums on a scale of Poor, Mediocre, Good, Excellent, and Outstanding]

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