Mystical Weapons is a collaboration between Deerhoof drummer Greg Saunier and Sean Lennon. Lennon has had a solo career since the mid-90s and is, of course, the son of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, but to read the press materials for this project's debut, you wouldn't know that if you didn't already know his name. He's billed as "Sean Lennon (The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger)," as though his membership in the folky duo he performs in with girlfriend Charlotte Kemp Muhl is the one thing for which he's best known. (For comparison, Saunier is billed as "Greg Saunier (Deerhoof).")
Being the son of legends does confer certain advantages on a musician, though I think that's all but wiped out by the baggage that also comes with it. This sort of "he's in another band, I'm in another band" statement on the part of Chimera Records, co-owned by Lennon and Muhl, feels like a reaction to that: They're selling Lennon on a musical accomplishment rather than name. Which is fair, especially considering the nature of Mystical Weapons, which is not anything like Lennon's solo records or GoaSTT. It's a 36-minute set of proggy instrumental improvisations that's fairly accessible as these things go, but certainly not the kind of thing anyone would have expected from the guy who did "Parachute" and "Dead Meat".
Most of the pieces are short-- nearly half are under two minutes-- and they range quite a bit in tone and feel. The most immediately gripping is "Colony Collapse Disorder", an airy track with swelling keyboards that sounds a little like it could've been recorded in Germany in 1972. Saunier's drumming brings to mind the lose-the-groove approach of U.S. Maple, backing away every time it approaches a steady pulse. While this piece is moody and highly charged, others are sketchier or outright chaotic. "Gross Domestic Happiness" begins agreeably, but by the time you get four minutes in, it's a screaming vortex of guitar noise, clattering percussion, and evil synthesizer.
Lennon and Saunier meld well over most of the album, and the most inspired moments are great. The way Saunier at first meets Lennon's weird keyboard phrases in a similar rhythm, then completely changes the emphasis to give the piece a whole different feel on "Goddess Curlers" is one good example. This is, ultimately, a record of the moment, though, and not one likely to leave any melodies lingering in your head. Deerhoof fans will have to make a much shorter leap to get into this than fans of Lennon's solo work, but in either case, it's missing the anchors of voice, melody, and songwriting that characterize both discographies. There's plenty to love on Mystical Weapons, but it's not a casual listen, and it's best not to expect one.
