Mister Heavenly / Out Of Love / Sub Pop
The best part of Mister Heavenly may be the fact the indie rock group doesn’t belong to any “scene”. There is the “doom-wop” tag but the outfit – comprised of Man Man’s Ryan Kattner, Nicholas Thorburn of Islands/The Unicorns and Modest Mouse’s Joe Plummer on drums – try to holster way too many styles that it’s unfair to associate them with one definition. In reality, Out Of Love is the only modern era Sub Pop record that can face wash you. The barbershop croons that plague all twelve tracks spell out a story of romance and enunciate it through blistering guitars (“Mister Heavenly”, “Wise Men”), unforeseen charm (“I Am A Hologram”) and low frequency discharges (“Doom Wop”).
A bucket of sound to one eye but to another, it’s an opportunity to open up. Kattner, who’s clawed through eight years of garage sale experimental rock, is the conflicted poet behind Out Of Love’s addictive ways, partially due to his vocal work that takes flight and never decides to parachute down. On “Bronx Sniper”, he’s candid, drawing a slight comparison to Modest Mouse’s Issac Brock, while on the rest of the debut, he wrestles Buddy Holly melodies around dub grooves (“Reggae Pie”), upbeat pop (“Pineapple Girl”) and slight revisits to The Moonglows’ rhythm and blues (“Your Girl”, “Hold My Hand”). If at all, Mister Heavenly are setting a standard: be novel and you will enthuse, and as Out Of Love suggests, never, ever be afraid to rave on about affection.
Download: “Bronx Sniper”, “Your Girl”, “Mister Heavenly”
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