Reviews were lukewarm, and there was a sense of disappointment in some, along the lines of "simple pleasures of debut album gone, to be replaced by huge anthemic stadium hooks."
But you see, those are the hooks I crave.
Singer Hayley Mary has expressed nuanced annoyance with the new album's critical reception.
... Mary said the majority of critics don’t “get” her band’s music, and it’s annoying they continue to write about it. “Clearly it’s not for you, so you’re communicating something that’s not that helpful to someone who might potentially like it, or not like it. It’s just hate,” she claimed. “There are a few great reviewers in Australia and the world, obviously, that just do their job really well but the majority of them have already decided that they hate the band.”
In her review of reviewers, Mary singled out Mess+Noise as representative of “a certain school of critics in every territory that fucking hate us and sort of always were going to.” She said critics like this should “fucking get a real job”.
It transpires that the criticisms aimed at the band's sound are much the same as those facets drawing me to it: Processed Edge-like guitars, multiple layers of instrumentation, an overall fuzzy/busy/indistinct pulse, loud, and with pop rock rhythm and songcraft fully intact. Mary's vocals anchor the music with a firmly feminist perspective.
Perhaps it is this female slant that confuses some of the critics, because no so long ago, it probably would have confused me. I'm the first to admit that my musical choices tend to embrace "maleness," but also cognizant that in recent years, other ideas have started to seep into this habit-prone cranium: Witness Paramore and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and now The Jezabels.
I wasn't expecting this group and these songs to become such an integral part of my soundtrack for 2014. They did, and that's a pleasing, serendipitous bonus.
No comments:
Post a Comment