Everybody’s doing airy, washing synths these days to convey emotion, but often the emotion can get lost in the altitude & waves. Thankfully, that is not the case with one of the acts that have been doing it better, Sweden’s The Mary Onettes. Just a year after Hit the Waves, the group has released a very nice seven-track mini-album, Portico.
From the first notes of opener “Silence Is a Gun”, yes, The Mary Onettes traffic in airy synths, but these are not the dime-a-dozen airy synths that you hear nowadays. Instead, Portico manages to be both dreamy but also reach you, like with “Silence”, “Your Place”, and single “Naïve Dream” (QRO review). There’s maybe too much wash at the end in “Bells For Stranger” and closing instrumental “Portico: 2014”, but over all it’s a very effect record.
The chillwave movement is slowly merging into the disco-dance craze, and that’s not The Mary Onettes, so maybe they’ll never be the flavor of the month – or maybe they’ll just shine brighter.
The Mary Onettes – Naive Dream
