Mr. Gnome / The Heart of a Dark Star
Label: El Marko

DJ Stace/Mapninja
2-17-2016

Eclectic power pop duo from Cleveland, OH.

Barille's signature layered choir of vocals are central to the sound of this record in the way Elizabeth Fraser's were to all of the Cocteau Twins music. Soaring, jangly, ethereal at times. Rocking, Sneaker Pimps, Portishead, Swans, QOTSA, Cocteau Twins (Yeah, how's that!) A solid record. Lot's of great music, here. This deserves loads of play.

FCC on #11

Favorites:

1. Melted Rainbow* - Great driving beat. Synth, industrial noise rhythms and great vocals. Nice simple melody is there, but behind everything else.
2. Dark Star** - Brief, Barille a capella blends to the next track. Use this as an intro to track 3.
3. Rise & Shine** - Knee slapping, electro-hillbilly fuzz rock choir. Liberal use of doop do doops (and it works). Note that the music cuts at 3:32 for a nice weird broken clock fade out.
4. Mustangs****** - This is the hit on the album. Infectious 8-bit video game beats, bells, synths, builds to soaring a capella moments. Here, Barille's vocals share equal time with the rythm and it's really perfect. I dare you not to dance to this. I listen to this song and picture everyone on the packed train platform breaking into line dance. PLAY THIS SONG TOO MUCH!
5. Folk Lonely** - Another a Capella intro to the next track. Of course, it's gorgeous, and you should use it to lead into the next track
6. Star Stealers*** - Space anthem. Rocking. Great guitar. Do I need to say Barille's vocals are amazing again? Breaks tempo in the center with a bit of a Bowiesque interlude without being hokey. Soars and reminds me of My Bloody Valentine for a bit, then returns to the driving beat briefly.
7. Storm** - Another great rocker. Flamenco sounding rhythms. Maybe turns a bit Celtic. If MTV had produced Game of Thrones, this would be the theme music.
8. Light*** - Slow, Sultry, bassy, organy. Really reminds me of Elizabeth Frazer, here. Beautiful song.
9. Hangunder** - Ethereal collage of sound (maybe Barille's vocals backwards?) bursts into cool shuffling beat. Playful, danceable, happy.
10. Fools - another a Capella track, you guessed it, leading into the following track. Bluesy. Use it by itself, though, since you can't use the next track...
11. ***!FCC!*** Odyssey ***!FCC!*** Several "fucks" given. Too bad. A nice little rocker, but probably not worth editing.
12. Follow** - Reminds me of Swans (circa "White Light"), but sweeter and friendlier. Soaring, upbeat, rocking. As usual, Barille's vocals here are central. fades into the following track perfectly...
13. No Place Like Home*** - Beautiful, leads out of the previous track with the repetitive Swans style chord, but basically a Capella. Meister does a perfect Micael Gira impersonation (or maybe it's Gira?) to make this track worth playing the previous one just to lead into this. Gorgeous.
14. The Sea - A final a Capella flourish. Beautiful. Meister's deep baritone is great here. Obviously, hundreds of Barilles, too, to great effect. Fades to a "Sooo Looong," repeating. Great end to a great album.