Review Summary: If this is a taste of things to come, I can't wait.
I recently stumbled upon MS MR, and most likely in the same fashion as many. For those unfamiliar with MS MR, they are 2 individuals as the name might suggest. MS would be Lizzy Plapinger who handles Vocals, while MR is Max Hershenow, who handles music and production. Some of you might have heard their song
Bones in the Season 3 trailer for Game of Thrones.
Now onto reviewing the four songs this EP has to offer. I would have to say there is a very wide use of many influences within a four song EP, which is one thing that impresses me at least. I can hear elements of Soulful jazz, Gothic-pop, and 80 Alternative for starters. To me, between the vocals and production, it all blends perfectly. The four tracks each have a different feel to them. While
Hurricane has a somewhat gospel feel to it,
Dark Doo Wop, as the title would suggest, sounds like a dark 50 pop song, which is to be honest is kinda awesome.
Bones is by far the most haunting track, the lyrics
Dig up the bones but leave the soul alone sent chills down my spine, The way the lyrics are projected by Lizzy on this track are very haunting. My favorite track would still have to be
Hurricane. While it feels almost like a dark gospel, it is very uplifting at the same time. The lyrics on the this track as well are very well done;
Welcome to the inner workings of my mind, so dark and foul I can't disguise.
If there one track on here that does not have a dark feel to it, It would be
Ash tree lane. It almost reminds me of a Florence and the Machine track in a way. This does not take away anything from the track itself, which is a beautiful song. It just feels slightly out of place with the tone of the other three tracks.
Lizzy does very well with conveying her vocals and lyrics onto the listener. Her voice is very soulful if their is any word to describe it. The production by Max is also a very large factor on what makes this a very enjoyable EP. The tracks themselves all feel very natural, and it was interesting to hear the different styles on each track. The only un-postive things i can "nit-pick" at are the one song i mentioned earlier that feel slightly out of place. I also wish this could have been slightly longer (maybe another track or two), even though that does not take away from the EP itself. Overall, this EP was highly enjoyable, and if this is a taste of things to come, I can't wait.
Recommended starters-
1. Hurricane
2. Bones