{"id":660,"date":"2011-12-06T04:50:44","date_gmt":"2011-12-06T09:50:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=660"},"modified":"2011-12-06T04:50:44","modified_gmt":"2011-12-06T09:50:44","slug":"album-review-mikal-cronin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2011\/12\/06\/album-review-mikal-cronin\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: Mikal Cronin"},"content":{"rendered":"

When a record opens with wordless vocal harmonies, the first place my mind goes is to \u201cOur Prayer\u201d from the Beach Boys<\/strong>‘ SMiLE<\/em>. But on Mikal Cronin<\/strong>‘s self-titled album, he’s got a lot more on his mind than that sort of (admittedly impressive) thing. That track, \u201cIs it Alright\u201d does indeed start that way, but it quickly launches into a melody and arrangement that calls to mind at least four disparate elements: surf-era Beach Boys, earnest strumming Violent Femmes<\/strong>, the crunch of the Replacements<\/strong>, and the manic flute work of Jethro Tull<\/strong>‘s Ian Anderson<\/strong><\/a>. And that’s all in the album’s first three and a half minutes.<\/p>\n

Mikal Cronin<\/em> is, en toto, something of a cracked folk-psych outing, but so many other sonic elements are deftly ladled into the mix that such a label is unjust pigeonholing. Arena-sized rock swagger is offered up on \u201cApathy,\u201d with some skronky sax briefly echoing the coda of \u201cHey Jude\u201d before heading to avant-jazz territory. All within a big rock beat, though: wow.<\/p>\n

\u201cGreen and Blue\u201d suggests what the Jesus and Mary Chain<\/strong> might’ve sounded like with Phil Spector<\/strong> behind the boards; how’s that for a scary thought? Sheets of noise are applied to a catchy melody. \u201cGet Along\u201d is almost a campfire singalong, except for a thundering bass line and some Everly Brothers<\/strong> style harmonies buried deep in the gauzy arrangement.<\/p>\n

A keyboard part that \u2013 genuinely or synthetically \u2013 conjures the feel of a harmonium or pump organ is the centerpiece of the brief \u201cSlow Down\u201d (most definitely not<\/em> a cover of Larry Williams<\/strong> by way of the Beatles). Heavily distorted, chugging guitars atop a running bass line form the basis of \u201cGone,\u201d a poppier take on the sort of thing one might expect from The Black Angels<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cSituation\u201d reaches back to the early sixties again \u2013 especially with its insistent use of tambourine \u2013 but adds an ever-so-slight spooky garage vibe, and a fuzzed-out guitar solo that’s equal parts Electric Prunes<\/strong> and Sonic Youth<\/strong>. \u201cAgain and Again\u201d sounds like the Byrds<\/strong> updated for the 21st<\/sup> century. \u201cHold On Me\u201d applies the epic, sweeping feel of Brill Building pop to an echo-laded acoustic number with close vocal harmony: shades of Lee Hazlewood<\/strong> and his love affair with Phaedra here.<\/p>\n

The set wraps up with an initially melancholy number called \u201cThe Way Things Go.\u201d Here Cronin tosses in bits of everything that’s come before, and adds damn near everything that hasn’t: sunshine-pop piano melody a la Paul Williams<\/strong>; anthem-style rock arranging; heavy drum fills circa 1967; toe-tapping Broadway feel; on and on. It’s something of a pop music travelogue, and it’s among the finest on this consistently fine debut album.<\/p>\n

With the exception of drums and a bit of flute, all sounds on Mikal Cronin<\/em> come from the artist himself. He’s one to watch; his is one of the breakout debut albums of 2011.<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When a record opens with wordless vocal harmonies, the first place my mind goes is to \u201cOur Prayer\u201d from the Beach Boys‘ SMiLE. But on Mikal Cronin‘s self-titled album, he’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-review","cat-65-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=660"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}