The Idyll Opus (I-VI) is the first record I've experienced that has really made the album experience a work of art, alongside redefining what it means to make a conceptual album. It's the first time I've seen an album do so much in embodying a full-fledged narrative, complete with a powerful emotionality and captivating story arc, and I've never had my eyes opened like this before. It is really one of the most worthwhile experiences I've ever chose to dive into, and despite having a long runtime and admittedly not the easiest to get into, the payoff when the album finally clicks is more than worth it.
I think one of the most intriguing things about this record is how it is, in essence, meant to be a book. The aesthetics and stylistic choices throughout the entire spirit of the album is consistent in following this concept. Most of the song titles mimic book chapters, the lyrics are functional dialogues and narrative elements, the record in order outline an entirely fleshed out story, with characters, environments and plot. One of their merchandise items is literally the record in book form, lyrics formatted the way they envisioned it in the narrative viewpoint. It really shakes up your expectations of the record once you realise this, and it gives the record a whole new lease of life once you start hearing it as a story.
Before I gush about the artistic mastery and perfection this record beholds, I should first clarify my thoughts on the musicality and writing. It's brilliant. For an alternative/indie rock band that has very strong influences from folk music, they do a stellar job in translating so many emotions into their music, even the more esoteric ones that are present in the narrative. Making use of a large variety of instruments, they manage to make fifteen tracks that all have something distinct from each other in composition. Not to mention, the vocal work is simply exquisite, the singer has a great voice for what the band is doing, and he makes every line he sings that much more genuine to the story simply because he can express the emotions beneath the words.
The instrumentation in this record is so important to the foundation of the story as well, providing the emotional range and capacity that the words alone cannot fully capture. The melodic and percussion work throughout the record does an excellent job in setting up the soundscape, whether it's the more energetic parts boldy led forth by robust drumwork or the more serene and sombre parts softly led by calm yet slightly haunting guitarwork. There are so many sonic textures and creative choices that the average band will never even come close to making, that Adjy makes use of in such intentful and masterful ways, that really lets this record have such expressiveness.
I absolutely love the story in this record. It is such a wonderful exploration of so many facets of life, in a very thought-provoking and poetic way, at its core surrounding the two main characters June and July. Through fifteen tracks, Adjy explores a lot of topics through narrative and lyrical means: what it means to live, the truth of fate, what freedom truly means, where love and loss collide, how hope persists and what the tides of death brings. They use really unique analogies like wind, seeds and cicadas to describe otherwise abstract ideas of life and living, and it is such a wonder to unravel their meanings. Reoccurring melodic and lyrical motifs also add an additional layer of cohesiveness to the record, setting it even further apart from any other record I've listened to.
The reason it took so long for the record to click for me was because I simply didn't understand what I was listening to. The narrative behind the record is integral to the experience, and it was no wonder I wasn't super captivated the first few times I listened to it. For a record that was recommended to me by a friend almost two years ago, it was only recently that I finally dived into the inner workings of this record, and that was only because I finally started catching onto some of the more intriguing lyrics and it triggered my curiosity. What followed has been the most interesting and fulfilling deep dive into any collection of art I've ever experienced, and it has yet to stop amazing me everytime I spin the record in full.
Adjy's vast storytelling and poeticism is one of the most captivating and appealing things about this record. My favourite line out of the entire record has to be the full version of "Can you fence life in?", but is far from the only amazingly written line in this record. The way it mirrors how an author would write a work of fiction and readers would have their favourite lines from said book, makes this record experience that much more unique given it's book-esque presentation. In fact, I do consider the visually presented accompaniment of the record as a book quite essential to the true experience of this record. Even if you don't get the physical hardcopy book from their merch store, the freely accessible digital version of the chapters (songs) do enough justice in helping tell the story and filling in the little details that the song alone cannot portray. One main example is quite simply who speaks which line, and helps organize the narrative and make the characters distinct. In contrast to the reaction it usually evokes, the fact that the narrative for the record ends on a cliffhanger is actually exciting rather than frustrating, because it simply means the story hasn't ended, and there is more to come to complete this narrative musical world. Even the title of the record and the digital site hint at the incompleteness of the story, which definitely is an exciting prospect.
As an alternative/indie and folk rock band, they're definitely nowhere near the conventions of mainstream rock or pop, so it's no surprise to see their varied song lengths, all above four minutes, and a variety of intriguing creative choices, from splitting songs into two parts or having an entirely instrumental interlude, as well as the ultimate track that sonically feels like multiple songs, and actually is meant to be three sub-chapters put together based on the book representation of the record. All this structural diversity lent to my curiosity as it became more than just an exploration of melodies and soundscapes and transcended to a wondrous journey of artistic intention and thematic implications.
I think it's admittedly a pertinent flaw of the record that it can't be fully enjoyed without the accompanying visual elements, but I think it has a silver lining, because it really speaks to the sheer volume of narrative and creative effort put into this record's making that the auditory element alone cannot encompass the entirety of it. Plus, I think it's a very beautiful and unique kind of record experience that just about no other record has managed to achieve, much less in this caliber, and it really doesn't end up as a gimmick.
My favourite thing about this record is that, even when I wasn't aware of the sprawling storyline beneath every single word of the record, it was still immensely enjoyable as a musical experience. Despite not even close to being pop-adjacent, there is a certain amount of pop sensibility in how they manage to consistently write impactful lyrics, catchy melodies and wonderful instrumentation that gives it such great replay value, whether to sing along to or to just soak in the soundscapes. It's such a vast array of soundscapes that you could get lost in, and many a times I envision myself as being someone in the story, following the storyline while taking in the world within the record that the music so beautifully constructs. I can so vividly imagine the grassy fields and lively town areas, the brilliant night sky that they look up at and the peaceful yet amazing views of nature that they see throughout the narrative.
After falling completely in love with this record, I was unsurprisingly a bit upset at how little attention this record has. It easily is the most underrated record I know of, especially considering how much of a literal masterpiece it is. Despite that, I think there is a humble and commendable bright side to this, because I can only imagine that the band set their sights on creating a piece of musical art as geniunely as they could, disregarding the usual dilemmas of artists trying to appeal to their career and livelihoods by making their songs more accessible and consumable, promoting their work and inadvertently diluting the effort that they can put into the actual creative value of the music. Adjy clearly has not done that, with a record that they began writing all the way back in 2016, with five years of careful and meticulous artistry to produce the final result that I have now come to love. I admire the faith the band had in releasing a record so dense in meaning and sentiment, a debut album that they could only hope will be loved by listeners who will take the time to dig into every crevice of their massive narrative and musical effort. Thankfully, their efforts definitely did not go unnoticed, and even if it's not the biggest thing going around, it had its wave on the indie scene, and for the lucky few thousands that caught the wave, found themselves with a treasure trove of a record.
I could probably continue to gush about this record in the detail, possibly song by song while dissecting the storyline, pointing out my favourite lines, the significance of the repeating motifs and all the symbolism throughout, or what I've come to learn and feel in genuine rawness from this record, but the long story short is that this has quickly become one of my favourite records of all time, and is a serious contender for being my favourite record of all time. I feel extremely lucky to know about this record, and really thankful to have not dismissed it despite it not striking a lasting impression right away, because I can only imagine that a timeline where I didn't know this record would be a much, much sadder one.
Rating: 10/10