The Six Parts Seven: Lost Notes From Forgotten Songs

Not a remix record, not exactly a tribute, and certainly not a new album by The Six Parts Seven, Lost Notes From Forgotten Songs may define a new category of record: third-party re-imagination. The semi-obscure Ohio-based group asked a number of artists, most with far greater visibility than T6P7, to take the mood of its instrumentals and create something new. Consequently, the package states that a track has been "re-made" or "re-defined" or "re-vitalized," because "remixed" wouldn't begin to describe what's happened to these nine songs. Most obviously, each formerly wordless composition has been granted lyrics and a vocal melody, and since those elements are the crux of most pop songs, they effectively become new compositions. They're almost all re-performed, too, with different instrumentation, pacing, and feel: The result simply sounds like a compilation album, though an excellent one, and familiarity with The Six Parts Seven's catalog is far from a prerequisite to enjoying Lost Notes. It's a bit like the movie-soundtrack copout of recent years, with tracks "inspired by" a film that doesn't actually feature them. But instead of cut-rate B-sides by Nickelback or Shaggy, Lost Notes gathers (among others) the voices behind Iron And Wine, Modest Mouse, and Pedro The Lion to create songs both "inspired by" and simply inspired. Sam Beam's "Sleeping Diagonally" is as good as anything on Iron And Wine's excellent debut The Creek Drank The Cradle, Isaac Brock's contribution sounds like an outtake from his Ugly Casanova side project, and David Bazan's track rivals the darkest moments of Pedro The Lion's Control. The peak of Lost Notes happens to intersect most directly with The Six Parts Seven's source material: John Atkins, formerly of 764-HERO and currently of The Magic Magicians, most closely captures the loose yet carefully constructed vibe with the awesome "Attitudes Of Collapse," grafting his own sensibility to the material without straying far. Lost Notes succeeds not because of its novel concept or particularly stunning source material, but because it attracted some incredible songwriters who were willing to run with the idea.