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| Photo by Kirstie Shanley/Brooklyn Vegan |
"On his eponymous debut, Mikal Cronin proves he can hold his own. It's an album of wistful, psychedelic pop that pits lush and layered arrangements against needle-pinning power chords. Like Segall's latest, Goodbye Bread, Cronin's solo turn finds him dialing back his thrashier impulses in order to clear space for singer-songwriter-style introspection. But when the curtain of lysergic gristle is pulled aside, it turns out that they're not the same person, after all. Even when he goes all Neil Young, Segall still retains an affable beach-dude demeanor. Cronin turns out to be the more vulnerable voice-- Elliott Smith in throwback dress, minus the self-loathing. And, like Smith, he has an ear for arrangements."
"Album opener "Is It Alright" pivots from Beach Boys-worthy harmonies to chugging chords to jangling acoustic guitars before, finally, spinning off into an outro that sounds like Jethro Tull gone hardcore punk. It's no so much that Cronin knows how to effectively layer instruments (though he does) or collage disparate ideas together (though he does), but that he knows how to use dynamics to his advantage. On "Gone" he works soft-to-loud changes, dropping the bridge down to a whisper before bounding back up for a final, climactic freak-out. At the end of "Again and Again", Cronin drops out the rhythm section, rebuilding the song over a gentle falsetto melody."
Kick ass! Read the full review here. CDs and LPs of this release are still available. We also have some of the limited color vinyl version left, just for saki customers, and direct CTD, Ltd accounts! Who says summer is over?
