Saturday, 18 May 2013

Kill Murray - Microscopic Feel EP


(Self-released, 2013)

Radiohead meets Animal Collective meets any number of anthemic nineties alternative acts on Kill Murray's latest EP of sturdy electro-pop, Microscopic Feel. Singer Gus Rogers sighs and falsettos like Thom Yorke while the band ploughs through a handful of synth-rock anthems that are tastefully put together, if sometimes a little out of whack on the style-to-substance ratio, the electronic sheen giving an unnecessary air of modernity to what are essentially quite traditional songs. In truth, the best moments occur when Gus' songwriting returns to Dial F territory on songs like "Hotel Zoo," if only because Kill Murray get back to sounding like four musicians playing together in a band rather than a sequencer, strategically programmed. You can't fault the craftsmanship, the performances or the production from a technical standpoint – the drums in particular sound huge – but everything feels a bit too metronomic and clean cut to make me feel much about it, microscopic or otherwise. 

[Originally published, in slightly editorially altered form, in Oxfordshire Music Magazine, issue 23, May 2013]
http://www.back2left.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/oms-23.pdf

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