MICO – My Tentacles
Posted on 16th Jan 12 by Stephen McKeever | 
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“…merge a rich, beautiful, harmonic voice, combined with an orchestral vibe, and electronica that’s been purposely thrown into a blender, and you get an artistic performance unlike any other…”
It’s nice to see this kind of audible art come around every so often. It’s a refreshing break from the usual rule-based genres. Mieko Shimizu aka MICO, takes those rules and rips them apart with her debut release My Tentacles. The best way to describe her music, is originally beautiful and symphonic in many different aspects. Merge a rich beautiful harmonic voice, combined with an orchestral vibe, with electronica that’s been purposely thrown into a blender, and you get an artistic performance unlike any other. MICO has collaborated with many famous artists across the world including Kraftwerk, and has become a popular collaborator. This album is the start of something bigger, and the beginning of a great solo artist.
Her first single, I SEE A SOUL, is a euphoric track with beautiful lyrics and harmonies, pulsing electronic bass and orchestral instrumentation performing in unison, to make a beautiful down-tempo effect. It’s a wonderful thing, seeing someone like MICO combine three different genres into a successful masterpiece like this. From the start to finish, this track will send shivers down your spine, and that’s the good kind. The different variations of harmonies and rhythm further beautify this track, till the very end.
The fourth track on My Tentacles, “CRUISING FOREVER” starts off slow with a pulsating beat, and gradually becomes more intense as the vocals kick in with melodic harmonies, and simply beautiful and simple lyrics. The combination of various harmonies works to great effect in this track, as the instrumental lies more in the background.
THINK LIKE A SWARM is something completely different, and remains my favourite track on the album, because of its complexity, the synchronization of the alternative melodies and its instrumental-free vibe. In this track, you can truly appreciate MICO’s beautiful voice, and the power it has. This hybrid of electronica and opera based music is something that should definitely be appreciated by all.
MICO has successfully reignited my faith in electronica music, because it breaks all the rules that electronica follows. Every track has its various effects, with forever changing rhythms and instrumentation, and isn’t repetitive and same-y like the kind of music you hear in this decade. This is truly a work of perfection, and is definitely worth buying for its sheer beauty and originality. My Tentacles is out January 2012. Prepare to be amazed by the magic that is MICO.
You can stream the album in full on Soundcloud.com via the widget below:
DROP-D Rating: 10/10
Mico ‘My Tentacles’ (Street furniture) by vision music promotions
Tags: electronica, january 2012, mico, my tenatacles
