Mice Parade - Mice Parade

This record is NY multi-instrumentalist and Bubblecore record label founder Adam Pierce's seventh under his Mice Parade moniker. MP initially started out as a one man band, but later on developed into a full blown ensemble including dual drumkits and mallet percussion along with various string and keyboard instruments. MP's repertoire has also altered throughout the years, the lengthy instrumentals of Mokoondi era are replaced by succinct song-oriented material. While the last record was dominated by the Mùm girl singer Kristin Valtysdóttir, who also appears here in one song; the majority of the record is sung by Pierce himself. While his baritone-bass voice is fairly limited, it has character and it works well with the compositions. He also gets to duet with Laetitia from Stereolab on "The Tales of Las Negras" and it's stunning. Compared to previous MP work we have less bossanova influences and more rock elements. Fuzz-toned guitars sit alongside acoustic instruments and the drums have a more overdriven sound than ever. It is tempting to consider this eponymous nine-song 35 minute album as Pierce's singer-songwriter albums. The songs he sings and writes, however, are still more multi-layered and nuanced than one would expect from such classifications. Nonetheless, this is another effort of interest from the eclectic Mice Parade.

This review was published in Estonian journal called Eesti Ekspress. Here's the English review.