-=- SHGZ -=-
* Shoegaze * Indie * Post-rock * Grunge * Dream Pop * Ambient * Ethereal *
Artist..: Lia Mice
Album...: I Love You
GENRE....: Electronic
STYLE....: Shoegaze, Experimental, Electro
LABEL....: Old Flame SCENE.....: 2015-12-13
BITRATE..: 826 kbps avg STORE.....: 2014-00-00
ENCODER..: FLAC 1.2.1 -8 -V TRACKS....: 10
SIZE.....: 217.3MB SOURCE....: CD
URL..: http://www.facebook.com/lia.mice/
- TRACKLIST
1 Our Heavy Heart 4:15
2 Lucky Bamboo 2:45
3 We Live Out Of Sight 3:08
4 Memory Maps 2:10
5 All The Birds 3:58
6 Saint-Malo 4:23
7 Everything's Sailing 3:09
8 The Nights Were For Exploring 2:03
9 That Spanish Spring 18:57
10 I Love You (Mark McGuire Remix) 3:51
(Secret Track)
Total Playtime: 48:39
Secret Track Info:
"This song is the title track, remix, and secret track of my album. I
originally had a song on the album called 'I Love You' which was going to be
the title track, but while I was mixing it someone very close to me was in a
serious accident. And every time I listened to the song it was very painful,
even once my friend had recovered. So I asked Mark McGuire if he'd create a
remix of the song so it could remain on the album, but in a new form with new
memories." --Lia Mice
Lia Mice crafted her signature "art of noise with a love affair for pop"
while traveling the globe performing solo in unorthodox venues, including a
buddhist temple in Tokyo; Manhattan's Museum of Arts And Design, Manhattan's
Clocktower Gallery; boat-venues; squats; DIY spaces; pop-up venues and the
soon-closing Death By Audio.
After spending 2011 and 2012 touring Australia, USA, Japan and Europe in
support of her debut self-produced solo LP, Lia Mice relocated to Lyon France
to write her new album with the purpose of recording the songs with a live
band in a real studio. One year later she returned to Brooklyn to record 10
songs at Strange Weather Studios with producer Daniel James Schlett (Amen
Dunes, Oberhofer). The songs became the "I Love You" LP, Lia Mice's
post-modern take on folk/pop, performed with a live band but edited and
effected to sound like machines.
Created two years, a world tour and continent migration after the bedroom
hypno-noise of Lia Mice's debut "Happy New Year" (an album named after a
moniker Lia Mice previously performed under), the clarity of vision and
production on "I Love You" reveals a new depth to this otherwise unknown
multi-instrumentalist nomadic recluse. Reflecting on events of her first
year living in Europe via story-like lyrics, Lia Mice channels video-hits
stars like INXS, Bowie and The Motels, while embracing new sounds she's
encountered in her new home of France: on cinema soundtracks; yΘ-yΘ records
and at weirdo DJ nites,
On the closing secret/title track, the Mark McGuire remixed "I Love You",
Mice summarizes her new state of mind in Dr Seuss succinctness: "We're like
dogs we run away. I'm a wreck if you don't stay. We're like dogs we run in
packs. We live on blind luck and chance. Oh I Love You".
"I put it as the secret track because it came about after the rest of the
album, so it both sums up the album and looks towards the future. " -- Lia
Mice
The remix is only on physical copies of the album. On the vinyl it appears at
the end of the B-side if you lift up the needle and place it back down again.
*
BORN in Cairns, Queensland, and based in Lyon, France, Eleanor ôLiaö Mice
spent her 20s immersed in BrooklynÆs noise-punk scene. Her second album, I
Love You, betrays little of this life experience, however: these are short,
sharp pop songs backed by bass, keyboards, synthesisers and electronic
percussion. The overall tempo is higher than what was heard on her 2012
debut, Happy New Year. The album comprises nine tracks at a touch under 30
minutes, and there are some compelling ideas here, though on repeated listens
it reveals itself as somewhat one-dimensional. MiceÆs vocals are invariably
delivered slowly and treated with reverb, which lends an ethereal and
nostalgic glow to her style. The highlight is the middle track, All the
Birds, a down-tempo number that revolves around a memorable chorus hook:
ôFlip the record over / Play it at the wrong speed / Dance a little slowerö.
ThereÆs beauty in simplicity here: the song arrangements are unhurried and
barely evolve in the space of two to four minutes. The real strength of this
work lies in MiceÆs vocal and instrumental melodies, however. The closing
minute of Saint-Malo finds her ascending and descending scales beautifully;
it would have been nice to hear more moments like this. Fans of
electronica-influenced pop acts such as M83 and Crystal Castles will find
plenty to enjoy here; there are shades of the latter act in the pitch-shifted
vocals and pulsating synth line that drive the opening track and first single
Our Heavy Heart. Mice is a skilled songwriter with a clear sense of her
abilities, and I Love You is a commendable entry in the canon of experimental
pop.
FOR her fifth album, Melbourne-based singer-songwriter Bertie Blackman has
changed her approach to the craft: rather than writing solo, she enlisted the
help of fellow pop brains including Julian Hamilton (the Presets) and John
Castle (Megan Washington) in a series of short recording sessions.
The result is The Dash, a kinetic set of nine songs that together form
BlackmanÆs strongest and most accessible work. ItÆs a perfectlyweighted
collection that begins with the elegant synth lines and call-and-response
vocal hook of first single Run for Your Life, and flashes out half an hour
later with the frenetic backbeat of War of One. The instrumentation
surrounding these songs builds on the synth-pop beds that were heard on
2009Æs Secrets and Lies and 2012Æs Pope Innocent X, a pair of excellent pop
albums. Blackman is stretching her vocal limits on these choruses, but has
never sounded better, and neither has her sense of melody. On the albumÆs one
tender moment, Darker Days, she is accompanied by little more than a
palm-muted electric guitar ù a stark contrast to the dancefloor-ready numbers
heard elsewhere; but this track is her singular vocal highlight, and one that
demands repeated listens.
Brevity is often an asset in pop music, but the sheer strength of The Dash
leads one to wonder whether the singer had a few extra tricks up her sleeve
that could have bolstered the set list. Regardless, thereÆs wisdom in this
decision: better to release a great short album than a longer one thatÆs
merely good.
-=- SHGZ -=-
P.S.
** Thanks ***
*** BCC FNT IPC SSR ***
*** For Knowing Where The Music Is At ***
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* NuHS we miss you! *
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