Secondhand Rapture | MS MR

Rating: ★★★★☆

The powers of the Internet can do wonders. Thanks to websites like YouTube and Gaga Daily, I have discovered a countless number of artists. I've discovered artists like Lana Del Rey, Marina and the Diamonds, Azealia Banks, Kimbra, and LIGHTS because of the Internet. Now, I can add the indie duo MS MR to that exclusive list.

MS MR, which is supposed to be pronounced as 'miss mister,' is a fairly new, but also fairly unknown, band that is based in New York. In fact, they are so new that their debut album, Secondhand Rapture, was just released earlier this month. Once I heard a few songs off of the album, I found it at a local record shop for only eight dollars (which was a steal considering compact disc albums are usually running between thirteen and fifteen dollars a piece now), and have been listening to it non-stop.

"Hurricane" was the first single to be lifted from Secondhand Rapture, and was the first song I ever heard by MS MR. I fell in love with the song as soon as I heard it in a YouTube commercial for this album. I would review it more in depth here, but that would be reductive because I've actually already written a full review of the song here.

The song that bares the most resemblance to a mainstream pop song is "Think of You," which includes plenty of influence from electropop music, but also pulls elements of numerous different genres to create one great song. The song's chorus makes it eligible for radio airplay; its chorus explodes with plenty "ohs," which are a typical element of almost every single successful pop song known to man, and the lyrics "I still think of you / And all the shit you put me through." I might be crazy, but those just sound like some pretty average pop song lyrics.

The second single from Secondhand Rapture is also a bit on the pop side, called "Fantasy." If given the light of day, this song could be a hit on pop radio; the hook has plenty of hand claps and drums while Plapinger repeatedly sings "How could you be what I wanna see?" The video for the song is also quite entertaining, with Plapinger donning blue hair inside a diner while cheerleaders vomit glitter and confetti across the parking lot outside. Fun, right? At least it's not as strange as the video for "Hurricane."

"Dark Doo Wop" starts out quite calmly with Plapinger providing the basis of the backing track: a constant repetition of "Da-doo-da-doo-doo-da-doo / Shoo-wop" and a snapping pattern. I love the lyrics of the pre-chorus and chorus: "If we're gonna die, bury us alive / If they're searching for us they'll find us side by side / That's my, that's my man / This world is going to burn, burn burn burn / As long as we're going down / Baby you should stick around / Baby you should stick around." I think the song is meant to signify loving a significant other throughout life and, inevitably, death.

I really didn’t find any massive problems with the songs on Secondhand Rapture. They were, for the most part, very well written and produced. Once in a while, Plapinger’s voice would purposely slide into notes, which doesn’t sound the greatest, but I only noticed this problem a few times throughout the entire album. Other than that minor detail, I really could find anything to complain about; a few of the songs at the end of the track-listing were a bit lackluster, but they didn’t drag the album down at all.

For a debut album, Secondhand Rapture was an impressive attempt. Minus the last few tracks, I rated every song on the album with a four or a five star rating on my personal Windows Media Player, which is something I haven’t been able to do since the release of Florence + The Machine’s Ceremonials and Lana Del Rey’s Paradise. Indie artists usually never get the light of day on music charts, nor do they usually get a large amount of sales, which is a shame, because more people should really become aware of what MS MR is up to. Regardless of how large or small their sales for this album turn out, the duo should be proud of their job well done, and they can satisfaction in knowing that there was at least one person out there that thoroughly enjoyed their album.