Sensamotion ADD

Review

Album Review: Sensamotion - Over The Mountain

04/21/2016

by Lena Pletzinger

There is a good chance that 2016 will be a very good year for Atlantic Cities latest gain in Reggae bands, Sensamotion. The band has just released its debut album Over the Mountain on April 19. The band celebrates this on its first headlining tour through the US, which has just kick off on the day after the official album release.

The young band of seven members is rather unknown outside their home country so far, but inside the US, Sensamotion has already established its name as an energetic live band by joining Fortunate Youth on their spring and fall tours in 2015. It’s been almost two years since the release of their five-track EP Looking Up. Hence, the excitement to listen to their first full-length album is big.

Over The Mountain is a 12-track album showing Sensamotion's love of roots melodies, spiritual lyrics, and creating meditative atmospheres. They also place a high emphasis on a diverse arrangement and interaction of instruments. The album was produced by the band, recorded and mixed at Kawari Sound Recording Studio, and mastered at Lion & Fox Studios by Mike Caplan, who has also done the mastering for Tribal Seeds Representing LP. Fans of US new age reggae rock will love Sensamotion as a new representative of this genre.

The album is opened by a melodious acoustic piano solo, before the drums, bass, and horns take over, transforming the rhythm into a one-drop ballad. The song is called All My Love and has a melancholy vibe, a heavy melody, and a vocalist who is extremely in love with his empress. The song is followed by Stand In, another love song. Only, this time, not a girl but the holy sensimilla is the beloved one. The title track Over The Mountain is a spiritual song, displaying the singer's longing for the redemption of Babylon and his seeking to find the place called Zion. This is probably the strongest of all tracks on the album. Natural Girl and Roots Queen are two more songs dedicated to the women he dreams of, while Rocksteady provides an interesting change since it breaks the central line of slow-paced reggae tunes with an original vivid rock-steady beat. The finishing track Over Dub Mountain is a dub cut of the title track and mixed live by Dub Architect.

As Sensamotion is inspired musically by the band Groundation, you can recognize certain similarities in the raspy styles of singers Joseph Collepardi and Harrison “Professor” Stafford. The sound of Sensamotion is definitely made to be experienced at a live gig. An ordinary computer loudspeaker does just not provide the capacity to appreciate it fully.  

Over the Mountain is a warm combination of songs, harmonic in the interaction of instruments, sensitive in the choice of lyrics. While it seemed to have a consistency of musical styles on listening to it the first time, the album offers diversity each time you listen to it again. Especially for those who appreciate the sound of a fully equipped reggae band, this album will be inspiring and enriching.

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