Mortigi Tempo

MORTIGI TEMPO
MEMENTO MORI
Self-Released
Street: 06.30
Mortigi Tempo = Radiohead + M83 + The Moth & The Flame

“Mortigi Tempo” translates to “I’m not living, just killing time” in Esperanto, a notion that most of us can relate to at some point in our lives. There are those days that slowly trudge on, when you feel like you are stagnant, perpetually stuck. By no mistake of Thom Yorke‘s, there is a Radiohead song called “True Love Waits (Mortigi Tempo).” But Mortigi Tempo are also a band based out of Provo, Utah. Their name is not a coincidence but, instead, a piece of the puzzle that embodies the mold that makes up the totality of the band. Mortigi Tempo draw inspiration from Radiohead on their third release, Memento Mori. Memento Mori is both a tribute to their musical influences and the creativity that is truly all their own.

Memento Mori opens with the track, “Can’t Seem to Let Go,” a heartbreaking ballad that coos at the listener as vocalist Chris Fallo sings from his gut, “It happens now and then / I get so caught up in my thoughts / Please tell me why I can’t seem to let go.” The pace of the song stays slow and steady until about the 3:00 mark, when Fallo spills over with intensity. The song closes with nearly a minute of horse neighs and snorts and canter—a unique ending to a complex song. “Change” begins with a Spanish guitar riff, groovier and more upbeat than the former track. Mortigi Tempo delve into the pit of the darker side of music, all the while keeping harmonious bass and drum parts intact. On “Nightfall,” Fallo’s voice is eerily similar to that of Coldplay‘s lead singer, Chris Martin. Fallo is melodic and reaches high notes with unfathomable ease. Scratchy, rock n’ roll electric guitar engulfs the background of “Nightfall.” The title track is a cool 11:42 long. In Old West fashion, a whistle permeates the background of the song. Harmonies that don’t miss a beat accompany romanticized keys.

Mortigi Tempo balance instrumental tracks with vocally focused songs. There is no doubt that both vocalists, Fallo and Nicholas Allen, are equally talented. They’ve chosen to omit vocals on part of this album in what seems to be an attempt to push the envelope for a typical Utah County band. They have certainly succeeded. Memento Mori continues to drive the band members into a realm of something experimental, and they are on the cusp of pushing through to that invaluable creative discovery. –Alexandra Graber - SLUG Magazine

MORTIGI TEMPO
DEAD WATER EP
Self-Released
Street: 05.02
Mortigi Tempo = Albino Father + Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

The Dead Water EP is a two-track release that reveals a new, heavier direction from the Provo-based trio. Opening with “Wake Me,” Mortigi Tempo build off a small riff and steady rhythm toward a massive wash of guitar tones and calling harmonies. In a refreshing way, “Wake Me” feels almost spiritual in its aims—psychedelic but reaching toward enlightenment. From here, the EP turns toward “Dead Water,” which is a more conventional drone-psych track in its fuzz and head-nodding patterns. It’s probably a hell of a lot of fun to play, but the craftsmanship of the second song falls short of the first. However, if you’re keeping watch of the local psych rock scene, check out this bite-size EP. I’m hoping it’s a sign of more to come. –Nic Smith - SLUG Magazine

Mortigi Tempo

Bob Your Head Size Suzie
self-released; 2013

3.9 out of 5

By Kristen Fisher
Clap along towards the end of “We the People.” I’m sure it won’t be one of the only songs that will be leaving you hanging on to your chair by your fingernails. Mortigi Tempo is made up of Christopher Fallo (guitar/vocals), Nicolas Allen (guitar/keys/vocals), Marz Leizureman (drums) and Jason Clift (bass/vocals). Remember these names; remember the album title, which has a flare of igniting an engine on fire or in this case my own brain, Bob Your Head Suzie. Once some time had passed with shows being played and with writing songs, this band decided they should record an album.

The third track “Shun the Light,” vibrates a raw inducing coma, which could make your tongue numb by the number of plays you’ve recounted. While the distortion has a wall of sound, the melodies do not become lost inside of the ordeal. Promptly it’s the other way around, this successful blend of casual jamming and teasing riffs allow their influences to run wild.

They have two songwriters after formally joining together the band The Lucky Strikes and Mortigi Tempo, the shared powerhouse of rock n’ roll phenomenon has risen in a chanting tone. This ten-track album has songs well over the five-minute mark, but you won’t even notice. You know how some albums, you end up waiting for that next song to play, no don’t worry about that with these guys. The song “I’m No Genius” creates this beautiful varying hint of psychedelic blues that makes wandering in a desert a visual past time. It incorporates keys and guitar together, which sometimes can come off as a love song with a hair metal twist. Lucky for us, this track has all the traces of a connection made between the heavenly strings and keys that are supposed to sound ethereal as you continue to listen.

Then, as if this doesn’t already feel like a storybook, flipping the pages to the next surprise. As the “Interlude” plays peacefully into the space, “Come On In” feels close to a mixture of early punk inspired ideas that have led you down the right musical path. “Feelin’ You” just confirms my previous statement. Muting of the guitar chords adds a sinister approach with lyrics that want to feel you, justifying that there is a difference between actually knowing how to manipulate their instruments instead of just lightly strumming or patting them. “You Led Me On To Believe” has to have been a conversation that took place between Iron Butterfly and Jimi Hendrix while they watched King Crimson perform “21st Century Schizoid Man.”

Then just like that, with a snap of your fingers, the last track “Tired Heart” feeds you as if it were mother’s milk. Words that puncture towards a climax which exceeds half way through the song; depicting a story of mind and time and it is with this album alone, I would travel to Utah to see this band play live. - Divide and Conquer

Mortigi Tempo
Bob Your Head Suzie
Self-Released
Street: 08.17
Mortigi Tempo = The Dandy Warhols + Radiohead + Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

Bob Your Head Suzie begins heavy, with overdriven guitar bass and what sounds like pounded, low-end piano on a track called “Air Raid” that has vocals so buried it comes off as instrumental. This first song could be Deadbolt’s take on a Halloween surf anthem, and I wouldn’t mind a whole album of the same, but that’s not what we get. “We The People” stays heavy with a riff that reminds me of decelerated Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song” with added fuzz, but the album lightens up after that. Clean guitar appears in the milder songs, with an overall tone similar to The Brian Jonestown Massacre. The head-bobbing flavor of the first tracks reappears throughout the album, but never lasts a whole song. Overall, I appreciate the unexpected trajectory of the album. –Steve Richardson - SLUG Magazine

Mortigi Tempo

Bob Your Head Size Suzie
self-released; 2013

3.9 out of 5

By Kristen Fisher
Clap along towards the end of “We the People.” I’m sure it won’t be one of the only songs that will be leaving you hanging on to your chair by your fingernails. Mortigi Tempo is made up of Christopher Fallo (guitar/vocals), Nicolas Allen (guitar/keys/vocals), Marz Leizureman (drums) and Jason Clift (bass/vocals). Remember these names; remember the album title, which has a flare of igniting an engine on fire or in this case my own brain, Bob Your Head Suzie. Once some time had passed with shows being played and with writing songs, this band decided they should record an album.

The third track “Shun the Light,” vibrates a raw inducing coma, which could make your tongue numb by the number of plays you’ve recounted. While the distortion has a wall of sound, the melodies do not become lost inside of the ordeal. Promptly it’s the other way around, this successful blend of casual jamming and teasing riffs allow their influences to run wild.

They have two songwriters after formally joining together the band The Lucky Strikes and Mortigi Tempo, the shared powerhouse of rock n’ roll phenomenon has risen in a chanting tone. This ten-track album has songs well over the five-minute mark, but you won’t even notice. You know how some albums, you end up waiting for that next song to play, no don’t worry about that with these guys. The song “I’m No Genius” creates this beautiful varying hint of psychedelic blues that makes wandering in a desert a visual past time. It incorporates keys and guitar together, which sometimes can come off as a love song with a hair metal twist. Lucky for us, this track has all the traces of a connection made between the heavenly strings and keys that are supposed to sound ethereal as you continue to listen.

Then, as if this doesn’t already feel like a storybook, flipping the pages to the next surprise. As the “Interlude” plays peacefully into the space, “Come On In” feels close to a mixture of early punk inspired ideas that have led you down the right musical path. “Feelin’ You” just confirms my previous statement. Muting of the guitar chords adds a sinister approach with lyrics that want to feel you, justifying that there is a difference between actually knowing how to manipulate their instruments instead of just lightly strumming or patting them. “You Led Me On To Believe” has to have been a conversation that took place between Iron Butterfly and Jimi Hendrix while they watched King Crimson perform “21st Century Schizoid Man.”

Then just like that, with a snap of your fingers, the last track “Tired Heart” feeds you as if it were mother’s milk. Words that puncture towards a climax which exceeds half way through the song; depicting a story of mind and time and it is with this album alone, I would travel to Utah to see this band play live. - THE EQUAL GROUND

What a week…typically I review local artists and their albums, but this past 10 days or so I’ve spent my time reviewing various lullaby albums for my up-coming baby, and while some of them are actually pretty cool, the musician inside me was dying to get into some meatier music. I suppose you could say it’s kismet that I stumbled screaming-face first into Provo-based band Mortigi Tempo.

Mortigi Tempo – “Bob Your Head Suzie”

One thing there’s not enough in this life: Rock and roll bands without a single fear in the world, that can still create meaningful music that is more than just a sum of its parts. Mortigi Tempo is one such band, akin to some of the early ‘90s SubPop Records stuff that practically made me as a guitarist. But there’s a new beat, a new tick to this group, separating them from the older psychedelic jams of the ‘70s and the grungy, spongy rock of the ‘90s, thus making itself new and fresh in utterly familiar ways.

Beginning with “Air Raid,” I almost instantly started tapping my feet and bouncing in my (falling apart) leather office chair. Old-school percussive flair meets the epitome of dirty rhythmic guitars for a positively gunslinger swagger — like I said earlier, its fearless. Top it off with dusty, highly reverberated vocalings from what is likely a slightly mad singer, and you’ve got a brilliant song.

Moving on, I found that “Shun the Light”grabbed me quickly as well, though in much different ways. The first thing I noticed is that the song is a non-radio-friendly 8 minutes, 34 seconds, which is not the only Zeppelinish thing about the tune. It’s a dark song, piano heavy but not pushy — think an angry Baldwin in a dark corner. Guitars are once again forefront, but the lifeblood of the song is the pacing, as it’s only moved along by various instruments and their impressive dances. Right around the 6-minute mark, this song becomes a predatory animal.

“I’m No Genius” is a radical departure from the previous songs, Pink Floydian in tone and … well … everything. This is a song I would expect a Pink Floyd cover-band to come up with as an original tune, with blatant clarity as to just where this song comes from. That said, it’s a beautiful track, with shimmery guitars and dream-like vocals. A stronger bass-guitar presence would have boosted the overall enjoyability for me, but who am I to complain (rhetorical, don’t answer)?

A very Hum-inspired track — if I were to guess — is “Come On In,”which is both massive and local-basement-venue intimate. If the Smashing Pumpkins, the Toadies and Hum were all sitting in a room, fiddling around with instruments, this could be a recorded jam session. That’s intended solely as praise. Figure this one out without my rambling details; it might be better that way.

Capping off the album, “Tired Heart” is as it sounds … exhausted, spent after a lifetime of emotions that never quite measured up to expectations. Doesn’t make sense? Sorry, that’s just how it is. This is an honest song, atmospheric and dynamic — expect drone, expect lulls, expect explosive ‘70s era blues-rock. It’s the perfect song to end an album of this caliber.

Other gems, like “Interlude,” “You Led Me On To Believe and Feelin’ You” round out this debut album with tonal-trickery and downright purpose; this band fully intends to wake you up and dares you to ignore them. Get passed any reservations you might have and dig in, and leave your 3-minute pop tendencies at the door, because these are songs that take as long as they take to tell their stories.

This album isn’t a country-club BLT, it’s a divey smokehouse rack of ribs without a napkin. Thank goodness for that.

Rating: I’d give it 4.25 out of 5 stars, or consider it a 1976 Gibson Melody Maker, made in the US of A. - Daily Herald