Nucultures is essentially a trio of established Philly musicians, but with nine other contributing musicians from the greater Philadelphia area the band becomes a jazzy pop and lounge rock ensemble of sorts. They like to layer Stereolab-esque melodies with Bjork-style vocals, suffusing it all with a subtle, miniature symphony. The idea sounds good on paper, but in performance and after twenty songs on two disks, the ambitious idea of talented musicians falls painfully flat on a double album that stretches the music way too thin. Though on bright spots like “Think I’m Losing It” and “Night is Beautiful” Nucultures seems like a slightly more chilled and cosmic version of 90’s downtempo, the rest of the album shows little progress in the way of invigorating this not-so-long-lost genre. At first listen the album seems to lead somewhere, but once getting though the first disk and then impatiently waiting through the second for a small surprise, or a new melody, it all appears evident that the album is one great jam session for some bored Pennsylvanians. Neither cohesive nor anything close to tantalizing, Butterflies, Zebras, and Moonbeams (I even hate saying the album title again) may make for soothing background music at your local singles bar, but it’s not anything groundbreaking; hopefully it may just be that sexy soundtrack you need to break the ice with that lonely, single sort at the end of the bar.
--Wes Barker
