Album Review

Micachu And The Shapes – Never

• 27th Jul 2012

It’s rare to listen to an album these days and have little to no idea how they’ve gone about making the noises held within. ‘Never’, the second studio album from ‘Micachu and the Shapes’ manages this feat and then some. Bizarre song arrangements abound coupled with what I can only describe as the sound of an army of broken toy instruments battling each other.

The vocals are hypnotic and understated, underpinned with fidgety rhythms, shifting time signatures and morphing tempos. It seems well thought out but at the same time comes across as entirely spontaneous. This is impulsive listening with an experimental and off kilter core rooted in jazzy electronic beats.

Many of the songs clock in under 2 minutes, and this creates a great flow for the record as variation is key here, always keeping things fresh. Ideas weave in and out in almost dream like motion and the energy maintained with eclectic synth stabs and mumbling bass lines is astonishing. ‘Never’ is a brave and exciting record, the only comparison I can draw here is to some of Blur’s more experimental work that they became known for towards their later albums.

You definitely need a couple of listens to break through the initially confusing soundscape, but once you’ve adjusted to the climate you’ll find that hidden within all the craziness are carefully woven melodies and simple yet effective lyrics.

In a world where everyone has ‘been there, done that, bought the t-shirt’ Michachu and the Shapes have managed to create something astonishingly original and they deserve far more hype than many of their less deserving peers are currently receiving.