Mirrorkicks - Turning Up [Single]

Fruit Pie Records

October 6, 2009, 04:23 PM

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The inherit problem with music journalism is that one tends to hear so much music, and that so much of it these days tends to be so similar. That's not to say Mirrorkicks are any more or less guilty than any of the other bands I've reviewed in the last week. It just so happens that this afternoon I'm not really in the mood for it to be honest, especially when the singer can't even bloody sing. Mirrorkicks latest single 'Turning Up' could quite accurately described as Weezer-lite or (on a bad day) even Ash-lite. It's gurning, by-numbers indie rock with a production so trebly it makes the Ramones sound like Barry White and a vocalist so bereft of tone and pitch he could make a room of X factor rejects sound like Jeff Buckley.

Of course it's not just the fault of the lack-lustre production and the singers dodgy pipes, the main problem here is that the song is jam-packed full of ideas but none of them are really any good! The standard muted guitar intro gives way to a funky rhythm section and a vocal line that's almost always a semitone off key, this ploughs head-first into a chorus which sounds like it belongs in a different song. Of all the faux pas committed herein though the vocals (sorry to bang on) have got to hold pride of place, it's incredibly hard to focus on the songs positive features (which are few and far between) when they couldn't even get the basics right. It's not even like the guy has a terrible voice, he's just completely out of tune. This would be forgiveable if I were reviewing a demo, but this is a professional release we're talking about here. The aforementioned chorus is not only out of place but poorly constructed too, with the heavy guitars and strained vocals coming across like a poor man's Biffy Clyro.

There are a few notable hooks in the verse but the vocals are so unpleasant they are pretty much null and void. It's a shame as with some serious rearrangement and auto-tuning (as much as I hate the thing) this could have passed for a decent slab of upbeat indie-rock (the climactic closing section is definitely a step in the right direction) but as it stands there's simply nothing here to recommend but a prime examples of how not to record a pop song.

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