Mikal Cronin-Weight

There's a wonderful, fuzzy guitar that kicks in about a quarter of the way into Mikal Cronin's "Weight" and pops up during the rest song here and there, but it's mostly for show. The guitar never lasts more than a minute, and is always mixed so the rest of the instruments and sounds of "Weight" can be heard. The tinkering piano, the subtle but swelling string work, the twangy, other guitar chords that plays throughout; all the elements that truly define the "Weight". All of which comes together to construct the backbone for a very emotionally fraught song. For someone who was just singing about understanding apathy last album, the Mikal Cronin here is desperately trying to cling to the now, asking, no begging for time to stop, for the next week/day/moment not to come, knowing how unready he is for whatever is next. Cronin's lyrics jump up an octave during his final plea, almost imitating a wolf in his cry. "Weight" is beyond perfect power-pop, the type of music I've always wanted from Smith Westerns and never got.   



Links:

Mikal Cronin's bandcamp
Pre-order MCII here, from Merge Records