Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Meg & Dia - Here, Here and Here

Release Date: 04/21/09
Genre: Pop-Rock, Pop-Punk

co-worker: Meg & Dia!
me: Megadeth?

I finally gave this band a listen thanks to a co-worker.  I remembered seeing a poster for them at Towers, but I kept forgetting to google them online.  They were cute, but I didn't want a Tegan and Sara rip off (at the time, I wasn't a fan).  Vocals were different, but I enjoyed their storytelling lyrics.  I kept track of them on and off, but this video scared me with the whole 'team of songwriters' and the way Meg supposedly 'forgot' how to play guitar.  I don't know.  So going in, all I was expecting was a more 'band' sound, rather than a singer-songwriting team.

Review: And after my first listen, I did hear it moving towards a more pop, maybe mainstream sound, but only because their first two albums were raw, happy accidents.  This time around, the sound feels cleaner and instead of those weird shifts, the songs have straight forward directions.  As a whole, the album is pop, but there are a few tracks that throw some curves.

The first song I wanted to replay for myself was "Bored of Your Love" as it's the first track to my knowledge featuring male vocals.  And the male's vocals aren't super great, but I love how they play off one another.  It's a song about being bored of the other partner and with more listens, i too got bored with it, but it stands out and great placement for track 7.  So it sorta gives the album a break of that female rage Dia can bring sometimes.

"Black Wedding" is the single and I don't think it's a strong enough song to be a single.  Like it doesn't represent the band for me.  The chorus is hyper and I love how Dia nearly loses her voice around 2:51, but the verse doesn't hold me that much.  Still, it is fun.  I think "Hug Me" should have been the first single as it has good melodies in both the verse and chorus.  I like her lyrics of "I am loyal because I simply am raised that way."  Plus it's memorable and I don't know what hug me til you drug me means, so i have my own  meaning.  waitttt.. waitttttt.. 

My favorite song has to go to "Inside My Head" just because it makes me want to read Charles Dickens.  It begins with the chorus, which at first I found unpleasing, but it warmed up to me because it fits the crazed.  In terms of verses, this song is my favorite.  Sounds pretty badass imo.

In terms of chorus, "The Last Great Star In Hollywood" contains my favorite.  It's a little high pitch, but the drums bang in sync with the words so it's a head nodder.  As for the verses, maybe it's just me, but there's a low pitch voice that sounds kind of British.  I know it's one of the girls, but yeah, I think it's cool sounding.

I describe "What If" and "One Sail" as the cruise control songs of the album with the first one a steady album track, but it's more of a fun track.  The second sounds more of a track you expect from Meg & Dia.  Cruise control is not a negative term.  I like both tracks very much, but it's not something where I can say it's something new.  With the way I listen (in order), they both just make me happy and nothing more.

"Are There Giants Too, In The Dance?" is the only song that makes me want to dance.  And true story, in my head, I referred to this song as 'giants' so I didn't know it had the word 'dance' in the title til now.  anyways, yeah, there's this groovy backdrop to it.  It's almost cruise control worthy, but it's not something I expected so it stands out more.  and I like how reserve the vocals can be.  No screeching.

Why does "Agree To Disagree" sound so country?  Actually, it isn't so bad.  "Agree to Disagree" has good verses, chorus, not sure.  The last two tracks drifted for me.  I feel like such a fanboy if I just say "it sounds okay," but really, it sounds okay.  Let's just say the last two tracks are my bottom two.  Does it work as a closer?  I think it tried too hard to sound epic.  but once you're in the 'zone,' I don't think it's a problem.  

Summary: So it sounds more pop and it sounds more of a band effort.  You can hear different ideas, but none of the songs feel out of place.  I went back to "Something Real" and it was weird how this new album made me dislike the old one a small bit.  I miss "Rebecca," but this album shows them stepping up their game.  And Meg is hot.

Key Tracks: Hug Me, Inside My Head, The Last Great Star In Hollywood
Rating: 8/10

2 comments:

nachturnal said...

So I know it's not a M&D song, but I still like/hate Yellow Butterflies.

Oh well.

Anonymous said...

Meg was kidding about the team of songwriters. They write their own stuff - especially Meg.