Icarus Himself
Mexico
(Quite Scientific)
Mexico has the interesting ability to be both a background album and a consuming album. For example, while listening to the EP in the car the other day, I was able to completely zone out, and think about movies and relationships, but listening to it right now, I’m completely intrigued by it, and I need to figure out how to solve the mystery that is Mexico.
This five song EP has a feature that I’ve discovered I’m rather fond of, which is where the singer, Nick Whetro, sounds like he’s belting the lyrics from the back of the room despite the fact that the mic is at the front. It seems odd to me that I like this, because generally I’m into the Wall of Sound, which often includes the singer’s breath inside my head.
“Your mother slept while you were born,” starts “Half Ton Load”, the second track. Whetro spends most of the songs, including this one, sounding outright despondent about the song’s subject. In this track, women’s voices claim “You had your way,” before strong synths dominate the listeners' conscious. Guitarist Karl Christenson keeps things fairly mellow on the next track, “Girl > Boy,” a song that reminds me of the Bossa Nova option on my old synthesizer.
There’s something oddly familiar about this EP, like somehow they’ve taken half-remembered bits of songs from my childhood and repackaged it into something that grown-up Amber would enjoy. Not that I would have appreciated “Cadaver Love Song” as a child (nor am I sure I really get it now). What’s happening in this album, in the lyrics, will likely take me several more listens to begin to comprehend. But then again, the best albums are like that, where the meaning of each track isn’t immediately obvious. Mexico is definitely hiding something from me, and I’m happy to try and figure out what it is. |
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