Album Details

• Artist: Melvoy
• EP:
Midnight Makeup
• Label: indie
• Year of Release: 2011
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: mark_morton on 2011-08-09

In the land where originality is often sacrificed for familiarity and talent kowtows to hit-making formula, discovering a band like San Francisco's Melvoy is a welcome cool drink in an ever-baking desert.

While the band engages in pop-friendly melodies and sing-along arrangements, its strength lies in its subtext - the spaces between the notes. Melvoy may remind listeners of several bands and no bands. This is the spark I am talking about; the band is able to tap into a part of the brain that causes instant head-bobbing and booty-shaking, and yet, it makes you want to listen more and deeper in an effort to make a personal relationship to the song. Akin to artists like Into the Presence, Devo, Fiction Plane and Your Vegas, Melvoy goes beyond mere pop-tunage, twisting the ear-worm aesthetic into a thought-provoking nugget of musical philosophy.

Melvoy may call what they do "sex rock," but I think the term cerebral indie-pop is a bit more expressive (in spite of its ode to female masturbation "Touch Yourself"). The charm in a band like this is that it draws listeners in with its ravenous hooks and swooning vocals, but it creates an actual appreciation for music due to its consistency and unfettered desire to leave a permanent scar on the face of the industry.

User Reviews and Comments