At first Ms Mr appear to be yet another Brooklyn hipster band, making good music but not really making waves outside of the indie scene. They certainly have all the hallmarks of a hip alt band – a tumblr site full of quirky pictures and stop-motion graphics (and nothing else); promo videos made purely with recycled, post-modern, pop-culture clips of old horror films, musicals and adverts; and a sense of mystery, including a lack of photos, names or other personal information on the band’s members avail online or otherwise.
Ms Mr are not simply another alt-indie band however. These guys will not be staying on the low-down. For Ms Mr are surprisingly… commercial. They are in fact possibly the first truly commercial alternative band to have emerged from the Brooklyn chillwave/glitch-pop/gloom rock scene. They have even signed to Sony in the US – that is how likely success for this band is.
This is are still making good music however; it is interesting, subtle, layered and curious. Instrumentally the music focuses on the more accessible, pop side of glitch, but it has interesting timbres and intelligent composition, which is always lovely to hear. It is the vocals, however, supplied by Ms, that will really sell this band to wider audience. Ms has a high calibre vocal style that has been compared to the likes of Adele and Florence Welsh respectfully. Hers is a voice that is commercial and accessible, but not so much that musical integrity is compromised. The collective result of Ms’ vocals and Mr’s music is a kind of trip-hop and glitch inspired gloom pop, which will surely be popular with fans of Florence + the Machine, Lana Del Rey and Ellie Goulding.
Ms Mr have been active for around a year, and currently have three tracks available online, including their first official single Hurricane. They are lined up to support Marina and the Diamonds in the US next month on her Lonely Hearts Club tour. They also had a couple of UK dates scheduled for this month, but they have unfortunately been cancelled due to illness. We can only hope they approach our shores for the first time soon.
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