Six Parts Seven

With a concept so distinct, it’s difficult to know what to call an album like Lost Notes from Forgotten Songs. The general idea: the Ohio-based sextet collaborates with other artists — mostly credible indie songwriters like Modest Mouse’s Isaac Brock, Centro-Matic’s Will Johnson, Iron & Wine, Black Heart Procession’s Pall Jenkins and Pedro the Lion’s Dave Bazan, for example — completely remaking the original instrumentals into distinctly new visions, all complete with vocal melodies and lyrics. Iron & Wine transforms "Sleeping Diagonally” into a wonderful Southern ballad, Will Johnson makes "Song of Impossible Things” an indie pop gem and Pall Jenkin’s deconstruction of "Seems Like Most Everything Used to Be Something Else” is one of the most intricate productions he’s been a part of. Isaac Brock’s contribution works despite its repetitious nature and Jenn Ghetto & Mat Brooke’s beautiful harmonising in "On Marriage” gives their interpretation a charming, mellifluous tone. Only two artists, Brian Straw and Katie Eastburn, downright fail in their tasks (the latter is downright sadistic), and though this record hardly acts as an accurate portrayal of Six Parts Seven’s original material, it does say an awful lot about just how inspiring it can be.