Meshach Abednego – Royal Giant Social Collective Ep. 01
Meshach Abednego – Royal Giant Social Collective Ep. 01 – Soundtrack Review
Ahhh – now this is the moment I’ve been waiting for! Vindication comes in audio, visual and written form here today – and you gotta love a triple-play sensory-overload like that don’t ya? Meshach Abednego, whom we’ve reviewed several times in the past here on our pages for eclectic work that has ranged in execution, style, performance…is someone I’ve always defended as the artist he truly is. While I’ve always been able to appreciate that it might not be music for the masses necessarily…I’ve always looked at Meshach as bold & brave enough to go after what he truly wants. With every bit of authenticity in his character and passion ringing through clearly in his music, he’s always entertained. In behind the scenes here at SBS, I’ve had many conversations regarding Meshach’s music; some of you people out there think I’m crazy for supporting it as much as I do…and some of you as well have also applauded the efforts to continually discover artists like this that attempt to continually break new ground. I’ve always felt like it was leading somewhere…to something extraordinary perhaps…and I think we’ve possibly discovered what that might just be today in watching the Royal Giant Social Collective Episode 01 and watching Meshach take his art & his music to that next level we’ve been waiting for!
Together with a full team of incredible talents, Meshach has brought astounding onscreen visuals to this first episode of the Royal Giant Social Collective, which he also directed in addition to providing the original music for. On the soundtrack, you get three of what I’d consider signature Meshach songs, which he plays live against a simplified all-black background; it’s shot immaculately and looks absolutely fantastic & stunning to the eyes. The effects are completely subtle but add to the video’s look in just the right amount to not take away from the overall atmosphere…they fit great…old-movie style lines and a slight center-spotlight add to the overall look – but at the end of the day, it’s the performances from Meshach, filmed in this incredible style that really sell these songs better than they’ve ever sounded before.
The more experimental-songs from Meshach are 100% checkmarks in the WIN column for…pretty much everything I can possibly think of. Hitting up a more electronic style but still keeping it all sounding real…the surrounding music-pieces combined with the powerful onscreen imagery and social-commentary and strung together with parts of “The Ballot Or The Bullet” speech given by Malcolm-X. If there has ever been a more appropriate time to bring back these words for the world to hear them…you just go ahead and let me know when that might be to you…but I’m telling you we, as a people, need these words right in the here and now. Meshach and his team of visual-aesthetic-aces have done extraordinarily well to bring compelling, thought-provoking imagery to the screen and really put forth art with valid meaning, relevance and stunning ideas presented beautifully onscreen.
It’s been fantastic to watch Meshach take on these songs in a live setting. “SMS Blues” was the new song to us here, aside from the instrumentals in the midst of the performances. Other than that, “SMS Blues” is accompanied by songs we’ve reviewed in the past, “Killed The Devil With My Hands” and a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “Born In The U.S.A.” All three of these songs perfectly show what you can hear in a Meshach recording…I’ve always been able to visualize how I thought these might look when he sings them – and the star of the show here delivers everything I’d hoped for and more. You can visibly see the connection that Meshach has to his music and material…which lines, notes and tones start the synapses firing-away in his brain and you can see that emotional connection exists between the music and the man. They’re all shot in the same style, which creates a real cohesiveness and captivating way to have put all this together. In short…I honestly think this is truly extraordinary; it purely looks incredible and the live performances from Meshach really make these songs hit home like never before. He’s an immeasurably committed performer…and this truly was a pleasure to watch and to listen to.
The smart way that this Royal Giant Social Collective has put together Episode 01 absolutely already makes me want to watch Episode 02. You want to know how serious I am about that? Episode 02 could do nearly EXACTLY everything that Episode 01 is doing all-over again and you would find a massive, hammock-wide smile attached firmly above where my chin resides. The extraordinary look to this…the natural feel it all has…I mean…LOOK at the way that Meshach begins “Born In The USA!” To think that some other hack out there might have BUTCHERED the incredible honest opening that this performance contains…I cannot tell you how thankful I am that Meshach was directing this vision in the directions it was all meant to go. Probably my favourite moment in the entire near-thirty minutes is that moment when he first comes back into frame to sit down, adjust his guitar and begin Born In the USA…I think it was a brilliant move to keep moments like that in there and not just head to the song. He’s extended a lot of the intro; sounding and looking completely captivating – this art piece of the Royal Giant Social Collective’s Episode 01 is a bold move to be 100% applauded. In terms of getting your music out there, it’s unique, new and expressive in a way that people will notice…not just another CD or download card.
At least I hope they notice…they should…there’s a brilliance to Meshach that is unlike any other out there and a magic in his approach to music that can’t help but find a way to connect to your very core.
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