You cannot listen to the new Mike Garrigan EP without feeling it’s pedigree. Here’s the scoop on these grizzled young veterans. The lineup of mg4 (Mike Garrigan, Mark Kano, Jeremy Cannon and Mike Mitshele) toured together in Athenaeum, who in 1998 had a Billboard top ten single (What I Didn’t Know). Mike also fronted Collapsis where he scored another Billboard charting single. Jeremy has played for Tonic and the Connells, and Mike Mitshele has Film School and The Alternative Champs on his resume.
You might expect, then, highly polished radio friendly modern rock tracks- and you’d be exactly right.
What does it sound like? Highly polished radio friendly modern rock, but then we’ve covered that haven’t we?
Cons: If you’re the kind of person who cannot bear the thought of one more Three Doors Down song on the radio, mg4 may be way too right-down-the-middle-of-the-fairway for you. It sounds very much of the moment and does a fine job of it. Whether that’s a plus or a minus I’ll leave up to you. The drums are recorded in a surprisingly un-muffled, un-gated and un-sweetened way, which is rare in modern music and not necessarily a minus either, but it is a surprising risk taken by this refined quartet.
Pros: Mike Garrigan’s voice comes though, as always, with a velvety power that puts the listener at ease, even in the loudest moments. The production values are nearly indistinguishable from a big budget release and a quiet competence abounds. The EP’s opening track Another Day in Paradise is bright and immediately accessible, while the EP’s title track Gravity Affects Me builds to a biting crescendo with Garrigan finally letting his guard down and giving the microphone an earful. If you like modern pop/rock music, Athaneum or singer/songwriter vibes you’ll enjoy the mg4.
Archived by J. Hodge
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