“Stranded Assets” is the latest release by My Glass World, an outstanding English duo based in London. Arriving after “Words,” “Always Another Train,” “You Can Feel It Coming,” “Assorted Marvels,” and “Compassion For The Animals,” four incredible singles that vividly showcase what you might expect from this fine piece of sonic artistry, this material represents their eighth full-length album. It showcases all the songwriting, composing, arranging, and producing abilities of two superb musicians who poured heart and soul into this material. Lyrically, “Stranded Assets” draws inspiration from politics, people, perseverance, and observations on the dark human experience in the cost of living crisis era, making it a highly relatable collection of songs that will immediately resonate with the broader auditorium. Sonically, it spans so many different yet complementary music genres. Perhaps alternative rock comes to mind first, but you’ll unquestionably notice how some of the finest properties borrowed from indie rock, art-rock, synth rock, Brit pop, and many more. With musicians such as Jamie Telford and Sean Read serving as creative forces, you can expect nothing but quality, so that’s the case with this album. Supported by the contributions from additional musicians like Steven Gilchrist, Jon Kensington, Little Barrie, and Jimi Scandal, they blend and use all those additional sonic ingredients as more than necessary enhancements, accentuations, decorations, and other details while simultaneously remaining loyal to the primary sonic direction. My Glass World dominantly incorporates all those qualities that meet trends in modern music production yet there’s a touch of nostalgia lurking around for an extra kick. You’ll notice how “Stranded Assets” continuously pays homage to the eighties, nineties, and noughties music yet it sounds modern, fresh, unique, and innovative. Therefore, these experimentations with many different but complementary styles resulted in a fascinating collection of catchy, memorable, engaging tracks that will appeal to even the pickiest music enthusiasts.
As soon as you press play, this album wraps around your listening apparatus and refuses to let go long after the last notes and beats fade. My Glass World intended to create a material where every composition guides you through an expansive sonic universe, decorated with lush ambiance. Each composition arrives with a thoroughly planned structure, adorned with profoundly detailed layers, brilliant ideas, and impressive orchestrations. Each instrument has its place and purpose on this sonic voyage, making “Stranded Assets” a pleasant listening experience worth repeating over and over again. You’ll immediately notice a soulful, passionate, sincere, confident, emotional, powerful vocal performance elevating everything to new heights, commanding attention, and guiding the listening apparatus from scratch to finish. These vocal harmonies seamlessly balance low, mid, and high notes, emphasizing everything My Glass World intended to achieve with this collection of songs. Besides decorating all those segments and instrumentations, these vocal maneuvers also contribute emotional depth and complexity to already intricate song structures. Also, you’ll notice how the additional vocal layers, back vocals, and singalongs decorate particular moments, making some songs even more beautiful. Tracks like “Words,” “Show Up,” “Always Another Train,” “You Can Get There,” “Where Are You,” “Faster,” and “A Pale Horse” are just some of examples how much attention to the vocals My Glass World paid, but you should keep your eye on the remainder of the material as well. The interplay between synths and guitars plays a significant role in shaping such a luxuriant backdrop for all the vocals to shine upon. You’ll notice how all those leads, themes, melodies, harmonies, ambiances, accentuations, and other sonic maneuvers delivered on synths shine on one side while the other resonates with catchy, memorable, engaging, ear-appealing riffs and chord progressions. Sometimes clean and sometimes more gritty, these synth works are tastefully implemented throughout the entire album with such precision and finesse, and they unquestionably uplift particular moments or entire songs to an entirely new level. The guitars are more subtle in the mix yet vividly hearable when needed. Of course, the band also incorporated a brass section on particular tracks, creating even more complex soundscapes that, paired with other orchestrations, gradually transformed into a transcendental listening experience. Also, it’s good to mention that these instrumentations perfectly pair with vocals, creating a lush atmosphere worth repeating over and over again.
“Stranded Assets” would not sound this good without an equally impressive rhythm section. You’ll notice how profoundly detailed, vividly hearable, warm-sounding basslines rumble beneath mentioned instrumentations, offering more than necessary heaviness, clarity, and depth while serving as a glue between synths, guitars, and rhythmic patterns. These low-ends are rich, deep, dense, and heavy, contributing more groove, power, and detail from scratch to finish. In the meantime, the exceptional drumming performance is based upon cleverly arranged, flawlessly performed, well-accentuated, halt time and moderate beats, breaks, fills, accentuations and other percussive acrobatics keeps the remainder of the band in line while dictating groove and pace. You’ll hear how every hit of the snare, kick of the bass drum, and splash over the cymbal contributes detail and complexity to every song. My Glass World thought about even the tiniest details and nuances while assembling this fine piece of artistry. “Words,” “You Can Feel It Coming,” “Show Up,” “Always Another Train,” “You Can Get There,” “What Are We Left With,” “It’s Time,” “Take Me Up,” and “A Pale Horse” are just some of the standout tracks but you should definitely pay close attention while listening to the entire album because these folks put heart and soul into this material, creating a masterpiece rarely heard or seen on the contemporary music scene. It’s one of those albums that will immediately become one of your go-to releases whenever you crave marvelously written, composed, and performed music. Therefore, head to your favorite streaming platform and check it out.
Thoughts Words Action 