Sunday 29 July 2012

The 2kDozen 500: #279 - Micachu & The Shapes, "Never"

More Micachu, the second appearance in the 2kDozen 500.


It's less spooky than the "Chopped & Screwed" live album from last year. But it is all wound up and firing in several directions. Very few of the tunes stick around for longer than three minutes, several don't even make it to two. This gives them the air of pop music - both the length and the panicky fidget. "Holiday" is a case in point - rhythmic but out of sync, melancholic bits that flit past almost unnoticed, rattling sounds. The pop nerves are all a-jangle. And that's when they're on holiday.

Machinery gone loose at the fly-wheel, this is. A runaway pop traction engine at the county fayre. "Glamour" might be quoting TOWIE, I'm really not sure until I hear "Shat aap". Terse titles all the way down the tracklisting.

"Oh, I want to jump into the white sky/But I never try." That song is rather ominously titled "Top Floor", but there is a sense of pressure throughout. The closer "Nowhere" is rife with a heart-bothering bass-line, high up the fret, and a noise like a brass pipe being sawn through - which is more likely heavy human breathing.

Rating: Flawed Pop Diamonds out of Pressure.

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