One incredible album

The Incredible Moses Leroy

Become the Soft.Lightes

Recommended if you…

The Incredible Moses Leroy

Become the Soft.Lightes

Recommended if you like: XTC, Coldplay

Even if you have never heard their debut album, Electric Pocket Radio, you can tell Become the Soft.Lightes, the second release from Ron Fountenberry and his band, is incredible. Why? Because Fountenberry is The Incredible Moses Leroy; at least, that is what he is known as when he picks up his guitar.

Fountenberry didn’t choose the moniker as a narcissistic marketing ploy. Moses Leroy is actually the name of Fountenberry’s great-grandfather, a turn-of-the-century union leader and civil rights activist in Texas. The adjective “incredible” was added to give the name a comic-book feel – allowing Fountenberry to slip out of his mundane life and into the part of the “superhero” that life in the music business creates for an artist.

On Become the Soft.Lightes, Moses Leroy doesn’t fail to provide the same kind of simple, pure music that made popular songs such as the playfully odd romantic tune “Fuzzy” from his first album. Fountenberry doesn’t create songs that are overly ornate – it’s music pared down to its essential elements.

Each song builds from a simple melody. The opening track, “Welcome to the Soft Lights,” is a mixture of hip-hop and Japanese koto with a soulful drone. The tunes are airy and the rhythms upbeat. From this minimal base, Fountenberry uses a spectrum of instruments and sounds ranging from xylophones, pianos and ’80s-style synthesizers, to the computer voice Veronica, which sings, “We Don’t Dance,” to construct each song. While each tune contains a variety of sounds, Fountenberry weaves them in so deftly that the song’s essential basic melody is never lost.

Lyrically and thematically, Fountainberry follows the same rules as with the melody – keep it simple and to the point. No song exemplifies this more than “Music Makes the Sound (of Music)” which says precisely that. Fountenberry uses the song to convey that message – music is just that: music. The song crosses genres to mix hip-hop rhythms with a synthesized melody. Behind it all are native African vocals recorded from a documentary – Fountenberry put a cassette recorder in front of a television playing the documentary.

The innocence of the music makes many of the songs seem like tunes dreamed up by imaginary children. The lyrics to the song “The Wonder Mic” are essentially the Hokey-Pokey with a repeating four-note progression. “Country Robot/A Letter to Dorothy” leads one to wonder if it’s possible that the Tin Man’s heart could ever be broken or if farm life could make a robot happy.

Besides Fountenberry, the band is composed of bassist and lap steel guitarist Kristian Dunn and keyboardist Eric Hinojosa. The album’s producer, R.E.M and Beck drummer Joey Waronker, joins Moses Leroy on drums. Also appearing on the album is Miho Hatori of Cibo Matto, who adds her bright vocals to “The Color of Sky.”

Become the Soft.Lightes doesn’t try to be anything more than what it is – unadorned, straightforward music done well. If you like XTC or think that Coldplay is good but wish that their songs sounded happier, then you might find the Incredible Moses Leroy, well, incredible.