Albums : MS MR : Secondhand Rapture
Albums : MS MR : Secondhand Rapture
Listen To MS MR : Secondhand Rapture
"I am so, so excited for her to come into the North," gushes MS MR singer Lizzy Plapinger. "She's gonna fuck shit up so hard."
Plapinger, of course, is referring to the plot line of Daenerys Targaryen, the blonde-haired mother of dragons and her favorite character on HBO's smash fantasy series "Game of Thrones." Plapinger and her MS MR mate, producer Max Hershenow, are both massive "GoT" fans -- although Hershenow laments that he's a few episodes behind on this season's action -- and were raving about the show long before their song "Bones" was synched in a TV trailer for season three earlier this year. When the commercial was unveiled, "Bones" was not the New York duo's current single in support of "Secondhand Rapture," their debut album released Tuesday (May 14) on Columbia Records. But neither member worried about the album's marketing strategy when they got to hear their song soundtrack the flight of a scaly dragon in the ad.
"It’s not a show that often incorporates new bands and new music," Plapinger notes. "It has a musically scored soundtrack, so that [placement] was a huge opportunity for us to have that kind of relationship to the show and have so many new listeners hear us because of that trailer. So the conversation of it not being the 'current single' never even came into play."
Like most of MS MR's artfully drawn indie-pop, "Bones" has a dark cloud looming overhead, and its gloomy background wails perfectly match the elegant grit on display in the "Game of Thrones" ad. "Bones" was originally featured on MS MR's four-song "Candy Bar Creep Show" EP, which was released via Tumblr before becoming a proper extended play last fall; five of the first four songs on "Secondhand Rapture" were originally released on "Candy Bar Creep Show," and Hershenow says that the EP served as an ideal preview of what was to come on the full-length.
"We wrote all 12 songs during the same year-and-a-half period," says Hershenow of "Secondhand Rapture," which was recorded in Brooklyn throughout 2011. "The ones we were going to use for the EP – those four songs -- work as a cohesive whole in their own right. And I think we both felt that they established the foundation for our sound in a way that would allow us to grow into the album in a healthy way."
Since the release of "Candy Bar Creep Show," MS MR has been featured in MTV's 'Artists To Watch' series, performed at the SweetLife Festival in Maryland and been added to the lineups for Governor's Ball, Lollapalooza and Glastonbury. In between festival dates, the group will headline shows in New York, Philadelphia and Chicago later this month before joining CSS for a West Coast swing in June. The duo's crowds have been slowly growing, as has their rapport with their various audiences.
"Max and I are very much performers at heart," says Plapinger, "and I think we came to the live show very naturally in terms of confidence and comfort level." Hershenow adds, "I think the most exciting thing for me has been translating this thing that wasn’t that great in my apartment on my computer… to a live stage. It’s definitely been a challenge, but it’s also been much more fulfilling and exciting than I had anticipated."
Before MS MR makes its TV debut on "The Late Show with David Letterman" on Thursday night (May 16), check out the video for "Fantasy," from the group's new album "Secondhand Rapture":
Secondhand Rapture
MS MR singer Lizzy Plapinger is exactly what you want in a frontman/woman. She has pink hair, or sometimes blue. She has an unconventional voice, husky and noir-ish. Most importantly, she has a keen ear for pop: as co-founder of Neon Gold Records, she released early singles from acts like Passion Pit, Ellie Goulding and Icona Pop. But that cool factor looms large over her project with Max Hershenow, giving skeptics a ready-made argument: that MS MR’s success is built on blind faith from a Neon Gold-loving Web.
The most effective way to dispense with any potential buzz-economy bullshit, though, is to put together a debut album as strong as Secondhand Rapture (out today, May 14). With this full-length, MS MR have crafted a collection of glossy dirges and high-drama doom-dances that operate in the pop world, but aren’t entirely of that world. Rather than neon synths and guitar crunch buttressing the melodies, it’s strings and pianos — but not in the Lana Del Way. Instead, MS MR opt for beauty through weirdness, constructing a record full of spectral echoes, wobbling organs and orchestral maneuvers in the dark.
Producer-instrumentalist Max Hershenow constructed a darkly entrancing universe and the songs feature plenty of moving parts, but they never sound busy or muddled. This is best illustrated on “Hurricane,” where the droning bass line could’ve smothered everything, yet each metallic clang and string pluck slices through. This stunning sonic balance slyly obfuscates the album’s anthemic aspirations, as the largeness of songs like “Think of You” or “Head Is Not My Home” is not immediately apparent. It’s a risky gambit in these MIDI-mashing, all-crescendo-everything times, but the arrangements shine using efficiency and tension instead of bombast.
The other part of the album’s appeal comes, of course, from Plapinger herself. The Siouxsie Sioux comparisons have been made before, and they’re unavoidable (after all, Plapinger did sing on an EP of Siouxsie and the Banshees covers). But where Siouxsie sounded like she was trying to awaken dark spirits in some ritual, Lizzy sounds like she has been put into a trance by those spirits (even intoning, “Let me be your singing corpse” on “Twenty Seven”).
Her gauzy timbre is unmistakable among the layered arrangements, and this works to the album’s disadvantage in one respect: there’s a strange preponderance of whoas and oohs that leads to some fatigue for the listener. These wordless chants are used effectively on early cuts like “Ash Tree Lane,” but by the album’s midpoint, they’ve piled up and begin sounding like temporary placeholders that were never actually replaced. It’s an odd thing, because when there are lyrics, they’re fascinating, and even Michael Stipe-like in their nonsensical Mad Lib feel (see: “candy bar creep show,” “big teeth small kiss”).
Lizzy sings about things skeletal, miserable, lovable and fantastical, and combined with all the warped murder mystery strings and cavernous drums, Secondhand Rapture could’ve blurred into a monotonous slog of fatalism. But the sequencing deftly peppers in a few oddball tracks to keep listeners on their toes. The first one is the absolutely gorgeous “Dark Doo Wop.” There’s a bed of coos and organs as Plapinger sings about being with her lover as the world burns, and the track patiently escalates to a squall. The next departure is “Salty Sweet,” a meta commentary on pop star insecurity over a reggae rhythm, followed later by closer “This Isn’t Control,” which starts like a melting music box before launching into a trap-lite beat.
These are the sounds of a band that was firmly entrenched in the alt-pop world and aimed to create a new take on the form, without sacrificing accessibility. And MS MR largely succeeded in that goal: Secondhand Rapture is a beautiful dark twisted fantasy that you’d hear wafting out of a haunted house in Katy Perry‘s Candyland. It’s nice when buzz actually swarms to the right places.
Contact MS MR
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Tumblr | Bandcamp | YouTube | Soundcloud | Email | US Press | UK Press | US Booking | UK Booking
Contact Billboard
Website | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | Tumblr | Google+ | Instagram | Pinterest | Spotify
Contact Idolator
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Email
Sources : MS MR Photo | Listen To Secondhand Rapture | MS MR Article | Secondhand Rapture Review
Purchase : iTunes | Amazon | Best Buy
Listen To MS MR : Secondhand Rapture
"I am so, so excited for her to come into the North," gushes MS MR singer Lizzy Plapinger. "She's gonna fuck shit up so hard."
Plapinger, of course, is referring to the plot line of Daenerys Targaryen, the blonde-haired mother of dragons and her favorite character on HBO's smash fantasy series "Game of Thrones." Plapinger and her MS MR mate, producer Max Hershenow, are both massive "GoT" fans -- although Hershenow laments that he's a few episodes behind on this season's action -- and were raving about the show long before their song "Bones" was synched in a TV trailer for season three earlier this year. When the commercial was unveiled, "Bones" was not the New York duo's current single in support of "Secondhand Rapture," their debut album released Tuesday (May 14) on Columbia Records. But neither member worried about the album's marketing strategy when they got to hear their song soundtrack the flight of a scaly dragon in the ad.
"It’s not a show that often incorporates new bands and new music," Plapinger notes. "It has a musically scored soundtrack, so that [placement] was a huge opportunity for us to have that kind of relationship to the show and have so many new listeners hear us because of that trailer. So the conversation of it not being the 'current single' never even came into play."
Like most of MS MR's artfully drawn indie-pop, "Bones" has a dark cloud looming overhead, and its gloomy background wails perfectly match the elegant grit on display in the "Game of Thrones" ad. "Bones" was originally featured on MS MR's four-song "Candy Bar Creep Show" EP, which was released via Tumblr before becoming a proper extended play last fall; five of the first four songs on "Secondhand Rapture" were originally released on "Candy Bar Creep Show," and Hershenow says that the EP served as an ideal preview of what was to come on the full-length.
"We wrote all 12 songs during the same year-and-a-half period," says Hershenow of "Secondhand Rapture," which was recorded in Brooklyn throughout 2011. "The ones we were going to use for the EP – those four songs -- work as a cohesive whole in their own right. And I think we both felt that they established the foundation for our sound in a way that would allow us to grow into the album in a healthy way."
Since the release of "Candy Bar Creep Show," MS MR has been featured in MTV's 'Artists To Watch' series, performed at the SweetLife Festival in Maryland and been added to the lineups for Governor's Ball, Lollapalooza and Glastonbury. In between festival dates, the group will headline shows in New York, Philadelphia and Chicago later this month before joining CSS for a West Coast swing in June. The duo's crowds have been slowly growing, as has their rapport with their various audiences.
"Max and I are very much performers at heart," says Plapinger, "and I think we came to the live show very naturally in terms of confidence and comfort level." Hershenow adds, "I think the most exciting thing for me has been translating this thing that wasn’t that great in my apartment on my computer… to a live stage. It’s definitely been a challenge, but it’s also been much more fulfilling and exciting than I had anticipated."
Before MS MR makes its TV debut on "The Late Show with David Letterman" on Thursday night (May 16), check out the video for "Fantasy," from the group's new album "Secondhand Rapture":
Secondhand Rapture
MS MR singer Lizzy Plapinger is exactly what you want in a frontman/woman. She has pink hair, or sometimes blue. She has an unconventional voice, husky and noir-ish. Most importantly, she has a keen ear for pop: as co-founder of Neon Gold Records, she released early singles from acts like Passion Pit, Ellie Goulding and Icona Pop. But that cool factor looms large over her project with Max Hershenow, giving skeptics a ready-made argument: that MS MR’s success is built on blind faith from a Neon Gold-loving Web.
The most effective way to dispense with any potential buzz-economy bullshit, though, is to put together a debut album as strong as Secondhand Rapture (out today, May 14). With this full-length, MS MR have crafted a collection of glossy dirges and high-drama doom-dances that operate in the pop world, but aren’t entirely of that world. Rather than neon synths and guitar crunch buttressing the melodies, it’s strings and pianos — but not in the Lana Del Way. Instead, MS MR opt for beauty through weirdness, constructing a record full of spectral echoes, wobbling organs and orchestral maneuvers in the dark.
Producer-instrumentalist Max Hershenow constructed a darkly entrancing universe and the songs feature plenty of moving parts, but they never sound busy or muddled. This is best illustrated on “Hurricane,” where the droning bass line could’ve smothered everything, yet each metallic clang and string pluck slices through. This stunning sonic balance slyly obfuscates the album’s anthemic aspirations, as the largeness of songs like “Think of You” or “Head Is Not My Home” is not immediately apparent. It’s a risky gambit in these MIDI-mashing, all-crescendo-everything times, but the arrangements shine using efficiency and tension instead of bombast.
The other part of the album’s appeal comes, of course, from Plapinger herself. The Siouxsie Sioux comparisons have been made before, and they’re unavoidable (after all, Plapinger did sing on an EP of Siouxsie and the Banshees covers). But where Siouxsie sounded like she was trying to awaken dark spirits in some ritual, Lizzy sounds like she has been put into a trance by those spirits (even intoning, “Let me be your singing corpse” on “Twenty Seven”).
Her gauzy timbre is unmistakable among the layered arrangements, and this works to the album’s disadvantage in one respect: there’s a strange preponderance of whoas and oohs that leads to some fatigue for the listener. These wordless chants are used effectively on early cuts like “Ash Tree Lane,” but by the album’s midpoint, they’ve piled up and begin sounding like temporary placeholders that were never actually replaced. It’s an odd thing, because when there are lyrics, they’re fascinating, and even Michael Stipe-like in their nonsensical Mad Lib feel (see: “candy bar creep show,” “big teeth small kiss”).
Lizzy sings about things skeletal, miserable, lovable and fantastical, and combined with all the warped murder mystery strings and cavernous drums, Secondhand Rapture could’ve blurred into a monotonous slog of fatalism. But the sequencing deftly peppers in a few oddball tracks to keep listeners on their toes. The first one is the absolutely gorgeous “Dark Doo Wop.” There’s a bed of coos and organs as Plapinger sings about being with her lover as the world burns, and the track patiently escalates to a squall. The next departure is “Salty Sweet,” a meta commentary on pop star insecurity over a reggae rhythm, followed later by closer “This Isn’t Control,” which starts like a melting music box before launching into a trap-lite beat.
These are the sounds of a band that was firmly entrenched in the alt-pop world and aimed to create a new take on the form, without sacrificing accessibility. And MS MR largely succeeded in that goal: Secondhand Rapture is a beautiful dark twisted fantasy that you’d hear wafting out of a haunted house in Katy Perry‘s Candyland. It’s nice when buzz actually swarms to the right places.
Contact MS MR
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Tumblr | Bandcamp | YouTube | Soundcloud | Email | US Press | UK Press | US Booking | UK Booking
Contact Billboard
Website | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | Tumblr | Google+ | Instagram | Pinterest | Spotify
Contact Idolator
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Email
Sources : MS MR Photo | Listen To Secondhand Rapture | MS MR Article | Secondhand Rapture Review
Purchase : iTunes | Amazon | Best Buy
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