It was recorded and mixed by Marc Aubele in Muel Studio in Rathgar, and the nine track album follows the release of their debut single ‘Death Of A Decibel’ in July of last year.
Broadly speaking this album is part shoegaze, part new wave pop, and part Mia Sparrow. Songs such as ‘Famine/Feasts’ is a perfect example of the band’s ethos of combining simple pop melodies with fuzzy guitars which at any moment can explode with added dimensions of synths and samples. The music seems to effortlessly transcend from being quiet and almost apologetic before launching into attack mode catching you by surprise.
The single ‘Death Of A Decibel’ features a change to the more prominent female vocals which works well, and indeed the track itself does sound most assured on the record. By their own admission the vocals and melodies are at the foundation of everything Mia Sparrow do, however it is the music behind which really accentuates everything, with at times sounding like the two elements are almost fighting with and then against each other for the most attention.
My favourite track on the album would be ‘Summer Slang’, which is perhaps the most shoegaze heavy on the record, however it still maintains that air of melody, which when cut against the bleakness of music behind really works well. It is also further enhanced by the track after it, ‘Following Trails’ which is much gentler, but still equally attentive and hypnotic.
Whilst it won’t appeal to all, ‘Mee-Ah-Spar-O’ is a quirky debut album which contains enough diversity and interesting ideas to at least deserve your attention for its 40 minutes in length. However you should be warned you may end up giving up much more of time once your reaching for that repeat button again and again.
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