Falling Up – Midnight On Earthship (2013)

By Topher Parks

Experimental rock group Falling Up has been through a lot, including several stylistic transformations, since starting out as a nu-metal influenced six-piece from Portland. Even through undergoing these drastic changes and leaving their longtime label BEC Recordings, the band has still found a way to remain relevant in the music scene. Last year the band introduced The Machine De Ella project to the world, featuring two full-length albums, Hours and Midnight on Earthship, the former of which is also the title of an audiobook written by frontman Jessy Ribordy. Both records released this past July, with Hours being a concept album driven by an overall indie rock sound, and this album, Midnight on Earthship, focusing on a more worship theme. This theme can be heard not only in the lyrics but also in the lighter musicianship.

Midnight on Earthship starts off with two really slow songs, namely “Sky Circles” and Home”, before the record heats it up just a bit on “Bruise”. This song is still fairly calm, but it does have a bit more of an edge than the first two tracks. “Greying Morning” follows, with a beautiful sound overall and Jessy’s unmistakable voice over top of the sound. “Who You Are” is the fifth song on the album, and the strongest song on the album as well. Between the balance of ambience with an upbeat pace and the powerful lyrics added in, nothing else from Midnight on Earthship tops “Who You Are”. The next tune that stands out musically isn’t until three tracks later, on “Rooftops”. “Voices” is okay, but overall doesn’t really catch the attention of the listener, and seems to get tiring with six minutes of virtually the same thing. Midnight on Earthship closes out with “Tomorrows”, another song that lasts over six minutes long. However, “Tomorrows” does have just enough of a kick to keep the listener engaged, despite its length. This track does a nice job of wrapping up the album.

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While Hours paints the perfect picture of a sci-fi concept album centered on an indie rock sound, Midnight on Earthship embodies more of a “worship” album per se, with its passionate lyrics and at-times beautiful musical moments. There were a few songs on this album that grabbed me as the listener and stood out from the rest of the pack, but for the most part I found Midnight on Earthship to drag on a bit too much. It’s a decent album nonetheless, but not one I will be adding to my library anytime soon.