There is a lot to be said for making life more simple for yourself. This is no representation of the music in question, Mecuzine has always revelled in wonderfully layered tones and textures, but the fact that the once five-piece band is now Joseph and Tony Johns must make the process easier. Democracy is a good thing politically but when it comes to the creative arts such compromises rarely bring out the best or fastest results.
And so, with their second full length album on the horizon and previous single Blue Skies all but a distant memory, the job of acting as the teaser and taster of what’s to follow is down to Digging Deeper which will be available from 1st July onwards.
What Digging Deeper does so well is offers a very accessible first step into Mecuzine’s world, a world that wanders between commercial sounds and cultish creativity. It bridges the creative extremes with its balance of slightly mainstream vibes and more discerning, alt-indie guile. And the more you play it, the more you realise just how smart a song it is. On the one hand it is a song which sounds like it is exactly what the chart world wants, it conforms, fits in, plays the game perfectly. On the other hand you slowly realise that it is exactly what the chart world needs (whether it is aware of it or not,) it is dark and subversive…a sonic Trojan horse which could even change the way that the musical world works.
But that is what Mecuzine do so well. They make music which feels as if they are pandering to existing tastes, following recent fad or fashion, surfing the zeitgeist of cool and conformity. But that is what they want you to believe. Listen a few more times to Digging Deeper, or any of the tracks on the album to follow, and you will realise that they are doing anything but!
Digging Deeper track 10 Bandcamp. Releasing through DRM on all major streaming services 1st July
https://mecuzine.bandcamp.com/