MS MR - How Does It Feel

MS MR
How Does It Feel
2015

There is one main issue people have with MS MR: Their aesthetic does not match their music. For the New York Duo it seems that the art comes before the sound and that causes a clash of cultures that make you either hate them or love them. How Does It Feel follows in that same vein, a collection of pretty decent synth-pop tracks with pretty good singing. As a pop album How Does It Feel works pretty well, but when MS MR overlay their New York art scene style over the top of this record it doesn't fit. There is zero that is avant garde about it this record despite what the track titles may try and tell you. This is middle of the road, but in the end is there anything wrong with that? Of course not. "Painted" the opening track on the album is catchy and fun. Perhaps it is a constant build that doesn't have a great payoff but it still works as a radio hit and people absolutely will be singing it in their car. "Wrong Victory" also has a great sound and a flowing quality that is punctuated with hazy synths, and it is perhaps Lizzy Plapinger's best vocals ever.

So then why all the hate for MS MR? it comes down to a couple things. One, their lyrics are far to lofty. It is not someone smart writing something heartfelt, it is someone trying to sound smart just for the credit of doing so, a thing which is universally loathed. "Monday is January, Friday is December
The calendar means nothing, when you can't remember who you are" is just one example of how the writing on this album is so cringeworthy, there are many many more. Second, their is a sense that MS MR take themselves very seriously and NEED you to as well. Instead of writing music for the love of it and the love of interaction it seems MS MR need to be important and poignant. When that is the basis of your writing everything comes our contrived and feels false. The parts of MS MR that do make you feel good, the soaring synths, great breathy vocals ect, get colored by these things and drag them down. I really feel deep down MS MR will get it right and find that lane where they fit perfectly, How Does It Feel just is not it...yet.

5.9 out of 10