Heaven and Hell

Minus Story "Heaven And Hell EP" – Beautifully layered pop music that can be both cute and a little dark. Most songs start off and end with a certain sense of minimalism, but the middle sections add layer after layer of percussion (drums, xylophone, bells, tambourine, handclaps, etc.), keyboards, and guitars. The male vocals are usually soft and blend perfectly while adding layers here and there. Songs have a tendency to be relatively complicated while still sounding perfectly simple. Make sure you check out the oddly successful Misfits cover (track 5). It's just lovely. Highly recommended for anyone liking lush pop.
My Picks: 2, 3, 5
Katie P. 3/29/05

1)Slow bubbly keyboards. Soft male vocals with some minimal guitar strumming. Drums come in along with backup harmonies. Song builds adding electric guitar, bass, and xylophone then falls off near the end.
2)Cute keyboards along with some feedback. Slow midtempo. Male vocals with a light airy open feel to the music. Near the end vocals become very intimate.
3)Starts with drums. Guitar and harmonica are added to a kind of lilting tune in ¾ time, solid midtempo. Layered vocals.
4)Slow and dragging guitar fingering. Sad male vocals. Instruments are layered in slowly adding more guitars, drums, bass, and horns. Gradual build up in last 2 minutes then drops off near the end.
5)A Misfits cover done like a lullaby. Cute bells start it off with some muted snare drums added a little later. Slow midtempo. Tons of instrument layers along with male vocals and some backup harmonies. Wow, crazy sort of freakout near the end. Nice!
6)A “spoken word” piece. Male telling a ghost story of sorts with occasional sounds of a little kid in the background. Weird!