Music has never been the same since The Beatles. The influence they’ve had on the exploration of sound both in the recording studio and with instruments can still be found in innovative bands like Unknown Mortal Orchestra. Still preferring the washy guitars and simple Ringo beats from “The White Album,” the Unknown Mortal Orchestra fuses in a good deal of post-’90s digitalization in their newest album “II” to create a sound that would have been called experimental had it come out five years earlier.

Not that they’re strictly recyclic in their experimentation of sound, but there comes a point in every epoch of music where experimentation with digital effects starts to sound repetitive, and we can’t all create “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.”

Perhaps Unknown Mortal Orchestra is not trying to be experimental, but now, in 2013, the term “experimental” has been used in such a way that it’s lost its meaning of pioneering and such, and seems to have developed into a genre of its own: a conglomerate of indie noises and psychedelic surges always reminiscent of “The White Album.”

"Il" draws attention to sound

But if my description of what the “experimental genre” sounds like is ambiguous, then let “II” serve as the archetype. It starts out simple, with Ringo beats and nuanced guitaring, then goes to comb through various genres: “So Good at Being In Trouble” hits motown, “No Need For a Leader” epitomizes its psych rock, “Monki” makes a play at new-age trance, “Faded in the Morning” would be its own “Helter Skelter” and “Secret Xtians” finishes it out pretty dang close to pop.

Unknown Metal Orchestra excels at creating an album that blends sound in a psychological way that draws attention to the listening process. It accomplishes this with nuanced sounds blended and twisted in unique ways that create a three-dimensional structure of the ear. And what is perhaps most astonishing is that their capabilities of emotional impact are unique to audio.

Lyrics difficult to understand at times

The vocals on the album are used more like a guitar: washy and reverb-verb-verb-verbing between the L and R speakers to facilitate an atmosphere of “chill.” This stays consistent with the overall mood of the album, this atmosphere of chill, but it makes it difficult to catch any of the lyrics beyond track three. At that point, this becomes more of an instrumental album with the vocals providing only another layer of sound. Albeit an interesting use of vocals, I have to say it diminished my appreciation of it as an album. I like to understand the lyrics. However, the rest of the album’s lack of understandable lyrics doesn’t diminish the excellent lyrics of the first track.

This was my first exposure to their jazzy psychedelic jams. The band sounds like they’re still in a phase of much development: exploring different sounds and trying to push the upward side of experimental and I think they’re doing a good job. You can tell by listening to it that this is a young band and it makes me excited to see what the potential “III” would be, but it doesn’t make me particularly inclined to go find their first album and listen to it.

The band incorporates great use of production and keeps it relatively minimal in comparison to others of the genre. They rely on their intricacies in guitar sounds more than the layers of digital effects, which I appreciate. I like musicians that are more musician than engineer, or worse, stage personality.

Album lacks personality and memorability

However, there were moments throughout the album where I was wishing for a little more personality — something unique that would make it stick with me, usually in form of a catchy single. I could envision this album as a person, being a “friend-of-a-friend” I would meet at a party. Then a week later, I run into him and have a vague sense of having met him before, but lack the surety of it because let’s face it: there are way too many “friend-of-a-friend”s  to keep track of.

Nevertheless, this album deserves a listen-through if you are a fan of the genre, and I can foresee this album being one that grows on you after a few listens. But if we’re going to be listening to a Beatles-esque experimental band, I say let’s stick with Tame Impala.