Review Summary: A (more) mature Mika
When you think of Mika, the mind tends to wander towards the unabashedly theatrical. Wildly colorful without a shred of shame, Mika is a man who is not afraid to reveal his feelings and put them on display. His flamboyancy is a selling point, but it comes alongside a knack for ear-worms and choruses that stem from that bright and vivacious trait. For three albums it took the spotlight. But here it has melded in with everything else, and peeking its head out from the curtains is a more mature Mika. Still as bright and emotive as ever, Mika drops the electronic influences found on his previous outing and brings back the natural sound he started out with for on No Place In Heaven
One interesting addition is Mika addressing his personal life here and there. On “Good Guys” (originally titled “Gay Guys”, but the airwaves wouldn’t catch that I guess) he laments the lack of gay icons that pop culture had in his youth, politely asking “Where have all the gay guys gone?” His sexuality is a focal point for a few tracks, notably the title track where he confronts his religion about his sexuality head on. Listening to him sing “I was a freak since seven years old / Being cast away, I felt the cold / Coming over me / For every love I had to hide / And every tear I ever cried” is quite heartbreaking. It’s a very honest display of emotion, with none of the excess pizazz that’s usually riddled throughout Mika’s albums. Those camp sensibilities seem to be subdued here. They still crop up on tracks - “Oh Girl, You’re The Devil” and its mid-tempo jazzy pop is territory Mika has tread on many times, so it’s refreshing to know he’s kept that to one track. Elsewhere, Rio is a rollicking tune whose chorus reaches the most exquisitely timed peak. But on The Origin Of Love there was still a running thread of theatricality - there was still this excessive, overblown Mika shouting out the contents of the heart on his sleeve occasionally. Here there are still some sweeping moments to be found, but they seem more serious and down to earth. When not subtly tackling social norms, lyric matter is a bit predictable in the way only Mika is predictable. Love is always a good inspiration, and our singer is bursting with it, per usual. As mentioned before, the Mika found here seems to have matured over the years, but he’s still particularly vulnerable to the spectrum of human emotion.
Mika harkens back to the instrumentation found on Life In Cartoon Motion, getting rid of the heavy electronic influences found on his previous album. This leaves us with an assortment of piano melodies accompanied by hand claps and simple drum patterns. When Mika hits those high notes he’s known for, the somewhat lacking instrumentation can be overlooked. However, Mika doesn’t show off his vocal range like he used to. This wouldn’t be such a negative if the sound was spiced up more often. “Last Party”, for example, manages to keep things interesting by adding some orchestral leanings on its tail end. On the other hand, “Staring At The Sun” feels hollow the whole way through. Even as a guitar strums in time with the rising chorus, an empty feeling is punctuated with every hit of that steadfast drum.
And yet, the whole thing just manages to work. By letting up the camp act, Mika manages to feel more relatable and the album has a more personal spin to it. The messages sent out on tracks like “Good Guys” shine because they represent what Mika stands for. Whether or not he goes back to that style of presentation remains to be heard, but it feels No Place In Heaven let Mika put more of his own life experiences into his music.
