MYRA LEE - 2

(CD/LP, Rejuvenation / Theatre / La Machoire)

What I like about emo-core is the attention to detail and the eye for design. What I like about noiserock is the power that blasts from the speakers and comes from nothing but a dense wall of drums, bass and guitars and a singer screaming somewhere in between. What I like about Myra Lee is how they set themselves off from the crowd by pure force of energy and straight ahead noise rock, plus adding a keen eye for aesthetics and design into the mix. Let’s be honest, a lot of the most classic noise rock albums look like shit. (I name Helmet “Strap it on” and Cows “Effete and impudent snobs” as witnesses.) The design of Myra Lee’s second full album, entitled “2” does not show a lot, but it shows a feeling for putting function before form, for straight and clear lines and for reducing to maximum effect. Thererfore, these three musicians from France form the basic noise rock power trio. For those of you initiated to the power of noise rock (who don’t have to read the FAQ to know what I am talking about) this should be enough, but you know me, if I like something I can’t stop.

Myra Lee are not young kids, they are grown men and they have been playing together for over six years. And you can hear that. They don’t want to trash out teenage angst and overspilling emotions. Well, probably to some extent they do, but they are also very focused and directed in their approach. They work up songs until they reach their screaming, kicking climax. They like unabridged guitar noise as much as anybody, but they see that full force, fully musical noise rock force to be exact, can only be reached by reduction and combining forces. Probably the same way Gone Bald or GI Joe or Bug know that. But Myra Lee have certain, hard to describe melancholic melodiousness hidden in their sound. It might just be nothing more than the echo-knob on some effect box was twiddled too much to the right, or that the reverb has some strange effect on the overall mix, but even though the instruments are all crunchy and biting alone, when they all come together, the sound is a little mushed, a little echoey, and fascinatingly sounds like they are transmitting their blasts via some telepathic means from a decade past. I remember the same feeling with another album over a decade ago: Les Thugs “Still Hangry” – and I just checked, none of the names match.

Musically, they remain solidly grounded in noiserock and emocore, with loud and fast shredding guitars, screamed vocals that range from hoarse to guttural, and all the emotions and anger that comes along with that setup. Music that smells of cold, rainy nights, beer-drenched and cigarette smoke filled cellar shows, ringing ears and body massaged by the constant beat of sheer volume. Music that slowly but effectively rubs out all thoughts from your brain and leaves nothing but a gleeming smile of ignorant happiness on your face. A eighty-seven percent purely male event, testosterone-loaded, heavy and pounding, with heads banged and fists pumping. Perfect for the oncoming winter and the cold outside (it has been raining for two days and it still going on) when everything turns grey and wet and mushy, and since you can’t afford to turn up the heating any more in your flat, only one room is warm enough to spend time in when wearing two sweaters, so you check out into some unnamed pub, hoping that the band will draw enough people to warm up the place. And then, for some hours, it will be bliss. This, of course, adds to the old grunge-theory that heavy guitar music always starts to evolute in cold areas, whereas fast and funny music comes from warm places. This will then become a good noiserock winter.

http://lamachoire.over-blog.com
10/2007