Mikal Cronin
MCII
Reviewed by: Max Miller
Poor Mikal Cronin. His excellent sophomore LP MCII opened with the line, “I’ve been starting over for a long time./ I’m not ready for another day I fail at feeling new.” What followed was an album’s worth of immaculate power-pop in which Cronin (perhaps best known as the bassist of Ty Segall’s live band, although he deserves far better than second billing) bluntly wrestled with his demons. In interviews he has suggested that his follow-up, MCIII, completes a trilogy wherein he has come to terms with his 20s and found the closure he so deeply desired.
The triumphant explosion of strings that kicks off opener “Turn Around” appears to back up this claim, although he still sneaks in a line about “still breaking all the horses in my mind.” Or there’s the motorik-driven “Say,” where he sings, “Today I found a way to want to go outside.” Or there’s “iv) Ready,” part of the six-song suite that makes up the record’s B-side, where the chorus, over urgent drums, goes, “I’m not ready for December./ I’m not up for looking through that window.” A little context: Cronin hits the big 3-0 this December. Those worried that Cronin’s talk of finding peace might cripple the sorrowful introspection he’s so skilled at working with obviously need not fear.
If anything bad can be said about MCIII, it’s that it can feel like something of a retread of MCII’s stomping grounds, albeit with even more ambition. However, some of these lofty touches — the aforementioned string section, the tzoura on “ii) Gold” — can feel a bit perfunctory. Hell, you’d never know the last six songs were meant to be a suite if they weren’t numbered. They function perfectly well as individual songs, but they don’t particularly flow together in any way that distinguishes them from the A-side. I guess they’re meant to connect lyrically, but even then they harken back to the first five cuts, or to MCII or even Mikal Cronin, the 2011 solo debut that introduced us to Cronin’s rare talents.
MCIII makes for a worthy follow-up within Cronin’s legacy that should please anyone who has commiserated with his golden mope-rock in the past. I just hope hitting his thirtieth year will offer Cronin new challenges and new answers so that we don’t find him “starting over” again two or three years down the line.
Rating: Bad-Ass
