Maudie Michelle and Jimmie Maneuva,
otherwise known as StonerPop, are a Louisiana based twosome whose five song
self-titled debut introduces a vital new creative force to electronic music.
Few experienced fans of the genre will fail to be impressed by the considerable
confidence that these songs show and the patient development of each one that
results in them being so memorable. There’s no sense here of two musicians who
want to show off or overreach. They set an assortment of goals for each of
these tracks that the performances comfortably reach and the bar is invariably
high. The apparent ease of their achievement isn’t some knock against the
overall quality of the compositions, or lack of, but rather a testament to
their mastery of the technique needed to realize their ambitions. Few musical
units of this strain could hope to emerge so strongly and conclusively, but
StonerPop’s songs are unusual and promise much.
Their surprisingly held back approach
on the opener, “Preachers”, serves early notice that StonerPop does things
differently than most. The electronic instruments drop distinctive touches
throughout the song, never landing the same way twice, and Michelle mixes up
her vocals as well, sometimes pulling great emotion out of herself, others
times adopting a straight, affect-less approach. “Running”, naturally, has much
more musical and vocal urgency than its laid back predecessor. This urgency is
intermittent however; the song veers from a tense to breathless mood throughout
its duration. The duo never falls prey to one of the most popular
misconceptions about electronic music – the instrumentation has a wide range of
color and always breathes with a warm glow flush with vitality.
“You’re Never Listening (Get Over
Yourself)” isn’t entirely successful, but interesting. The lack of melody here
compared to earlier songs asks the audience to adjust accordingly and some may
not enjoy the shift. This is a much more pyrotechnic display of electronica
than before and can be accused of self-indulgence, but others will rightly hear
it as merely another side of the duo’s musical character. “Monsters” is
probably the musical and lyrical highpoint of the EP. The duo’s strengths come
together here in a very obvious way – the lyrical complexity is greater than
before and suggests a personal experience, the intimate manner Michelle uses to
handle the singing reinforces this, and the arrangement manages an inspired
balance between melody and moody atmospherics. The EP’s last track “Fox”
foregoes any of the aforementioned moodiness in favor of a more clearly upbeat
ending and the beautifully phrased piano playing scattered throughout the song
gives it a flair that earlier songs lack.
This debut EP from StonerPop has a
distinctive character most artistic units don’t achieve until their second or
third release. They clearly began the recording process with a clear idea of
where they wanted to go with each song and enlisted the right collaborators to
help achieve those goals but, ultimately, it’s emboldened young talent that
make this recording succeed so well. StonerPop’s debut EP will please all fans
of electronic music.
8 out of 10 stars
Charles Hatton
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