Mk.gee - Two Star & The Dream Police

The next in an endless run of major album releases this spring - wild & inventive indie

Hard not to be absolutely desperate for this album to drop. Mk.gee is an artist who continues to create and evolve a sound that is instantly driving the sound of huge communities of artists. Whether it’s his guitar tones, the way he chooses to spotlight or bury vocals in each song, even the more general grooves and structures. Everything he does, sends ripples through the indie-r&b/indie-rock circles immediately. So, this album is like fashion week. You have to tune in and see what the foremost thinkers are doing, so you’ll know what everyone else will be chasing for years to come.

Consider this a first draft, a write up and a review I’m sure will grow and evolve over the coming months.

Off the rip, this album seems to deliver just that. 12 tracks, just over 33 minutes, it’s efficient, it’s beautiful. New Low opens, a twisting and dancey dark opening. It’s a surprise to feel so computer/drum machine driven off the back of these guitar singles. Little sprinkles of genius everywhere, there’s so much beauty squeezed into every moment. We barrel through two singles (How many miles / Are You Looking Up) before the next new track - DNM.

This one has held my attention already. It opens with a false start, a cutoff that’ll make you double check your bluetooth headphones. Riding this crazy drum kit forward, Mk.gee starts to think through this relationship sorting through options. Through the whole verse there’s instruments coloring the edges, it’s so sick.

We hit the ground running into this chorus, piano chords laid on thick, background vocals hoisting Mk.gee up into vision. There’s a wood block ringing out here and there, but loud and abrasive like a fire alarm. This kind of chirp feels ripe for more use elsewhere, but I doubt many can pull it off this well. His guitar roars, the piano rings, the band ready to dive back in, Mk.gee holding them off for just a minute. Back for another chorus, asking for honesty and asking for it now, recognizing what has happened here. It moves into an instrumental outro, with tones and from the guitar and keys reminiscent of Dijon’s Absolutely, before swirling into this 80’s advertisement(?) little thing and transitioning seamlessly into You got it.

Rounding out side 1 with Rylee & I, an intimate and brief ode to a lover, strewn over this epic instrumental. There’s a break for the angel Rylee saw - woodwinds floating through a pool, through space. This incredible Bon Iver level atmospheric stuff injected straight down the middle of this tune. Like so much of his music, even when the drums take a back seat my body is SUCKED into this groove. Unable to sit still.

Candy is a perfect next track, Mk.gee stepping back to the mic after a quick water break. Into I Want which feels like a timeless wedding song from the future and the past. His vocals matching the guitar on time and dies make me swoon. Sounds dancing with each other. A midnight rain of a song.

Into Alesis, with a brighter melody and shape than the album has played with yet. Tying the songs together, the universe of the record expanding and contracting all at once. I only really want you pointing to the last track, why bleed when we don’t have to looking back at DNM. I’m sure there’s a million more connections here, and I look forward to finding them on my hundredth listen.

Breakthespell floats in over saxaphones and laughter, hoping to end this chapter and actually move on. A classic, doing what we want at the surface, knowing it’s not what we want and need in our souls. The bulk of this song held in the expansive space for the instrumental to shine. A breath to build back up before the final two songs.

Little Bit More was one I was stoked to hear. When Dijon is saying this is one of his favorite songs ever, and Henry Kwapis is saying he’s had the words stuck in his head since hearing an iphone demo once, it’s going to be good. And it is. Mk.gee sounds so so good here. The band too. The bongo drums so subtle and so perfect. Quick and fantastic, this is one I’ll be stuck on, that guitar riff endlessly repeatable.

And we close with the familiar Dream Police, a powerful end. Love this record. I think we’ll see a lot more of this writing style too, these simple vignettes stitched together, short bursts of phrases, leaving space and letting that space do just as much of the talking. I love this record already and excited to sink more into its world.