Album Review: Mutual Benefit - Skip A Sinking Stone

Soundsmith Jordan Lee (aka Mutual Benefit), lately of New York City, is famously nomadic.

Perhaps that's why he's assimilated such a range of influences, which jostle for position on his second LP. The juxtaposition of reedy vocals with luscious strings and momentous variations in dynamics at times recalls Mercury Rev at their most (over) dramatic. But the album is also characterised by post-Sufjan, melodious cacophonies that grow wearisome and tend to obfuscate Lee's introspective theme. Even relatively simple, well-crafted tracks like Getting Gone are needlessly burdened by twiddling flutes and drones. It's no coincidence that the strongest track, Not For Nothing, is also the most sonically straightforward.