The Mary Onettes- Islands Review
Posted by Michael James on 11.09.2009
One bad pun deserves another: With their second album, do the Mary Onettes truly prove themselves to be the masters of puppets?
1. Puzzles
2. Dare
3. Once I Was Pretty
4. Cry For Love
5. The Disappearance of My Youth
6. God Knows I Had Plans
7. Symmetry
8. Century
9. Whatever Saves Me
10. Bricks
They say what’s old is new again, and the second album by Swedish “dream poppers” The Mary Onettes is no exception. After a few listens to their second Labrador Records release Islands, I fully expected that I’d been transported back in time, to a dingy basement frequented by faceless, nameless imitators of The Cure. Thankfully I wasn’t, because I was all out of pancake makeup.
From their vocals to their instrumentation, The Mary Onettes come off as a carefully curated nostalgia act which can be quite off-putting at first. The jangly synths and overly-enunciated, layered vocals of the album opening “Puzzles” sounds like a Cutting Crew B-side. Perhaps the strangest part of the group’s 80s fixation is that they have apparently come to it over time- I listened to a few songs from their debut album which have a much more modern feel. Yet on Islands’ tracks like the first single “Dare,” even when guitars are featured, they are quickly overwhelmed by synthesized strings. Unfortunately, the pitch of frontman Philip Ekstrom on the chorus is way too similar to the tone of those synths and, as a result, “Dare” is a tough listen.
The majority of the songs on Islands were written in the wake of the deaths of several Ekstrom’s friends and family members. The scarring impact of those losses weighs heavy on the album, particularly on mournful songs like “The Disappearance of My Youth,” which find The Mary Onettes contemplating life, death, aging, and everything in between. And while the use of children to sing background vocals on a song about lost youth is a little obvious, the result is undeniably poignant.
With song titles like “Once I was Pretty”, some of The Mary Onettes’ work seems self-consciously precious and fragile. On the brooding “Cry for Love”, Ekstrom sings “Because of your father/You have a hole in your trust/and when I see you hide it/I wish I could remove it from your heart.” While this might be music to the ears of a 15 year old girl convinced that “no one understands me,” they made me feel guilty, like I was reading someone’s therapy notes.
Despite the occasional cloying nature of the lyrics, Islands is an enjoyable listen once you embrace your inner Lloyd Dobler and immerse yourself the time capsule sound. The distinct styling of the vocals gives a cathartic and triumphant feel to more upbeat tracks like “Symmetry.” “Century” has a slightly more modern feel, as the guitars and drums are more prominently featured. As a result, the heavy echo effects on Ekstrom’s vocal are more reminiscent of Band of Horses then Alphaville. Islands ends on a high note with the epic “Bricks,” which could easily have been soundtracked the final scene of a lost 80s movie.
If you’re like me, most of your music ends up in an endless .mp3 “shuffle.” In order to preserve your valuable disk space, here’s what’s Ipod-worthy off Islands:
“The Disappearance of My Youth”; “God Knows I Had Plans”; “Symmetry”; “Century”; “Bricks”
The 411: It's pretty tough to pinpoint The Mary Onettes' place in today's music scene. While they craft a decent '80s homage, I don't know why you'd see the tribute band when the original is only a few clicks away. There are definitely some songs on Islands which can stand alongside their synth happy forebearers though, so the album is a decent listen.
