801 Mystery Jets - Twenty One (2008)

 801 Mystery Jets - Twenty One (2008)

Studio Album - Indie Rock



About the Act:

Mystery Jets are an indie/alternative band, mostly from Eel Pie Island in London. They started in 1992 and are still going. Their original name was The Misery Jets, taken from a newspaper article about being under a flightpath, but when their drummer mis-spelled it while paining it on his drum skins, they felt they had to change to Mystery Jets. To be honest it was probably a good move.


About the Album:

This was their third album, or their second, depending on if you count their other second album, which was a US-only release featuring some songs from their first. Let's say this is their second. 


My History with this Album:

None


Review:

If you like The Cure in their later, poppier phase, you might well like this. The singer sounds quite a bit like Robert Smith of The Cure. There are other influences in there of course, and it feels at times a bit 80s, a bit Smiths, but generally at the poppy end of the indie rock spectrum. Also maybe Supergrass's song Alright. A bit Elbow, but kind of lighter in its heart.

On my first listen I was kind of like Meh, this is nothing special. On the second listen (still happening) I have found that quite a few of the songs had made an impression first time around, which is something that usually impresses me. The music, as I might have indicated, is kind of indie pop, not too heavy, quite easy to to listen to, a little jangly, some interesting variation in sound, harmonically quite straightforward.  The songs have a lightness to them, like good pop, a little sense of humour, some pathos, and I guess quite a bit of that comes with the delivery. Some of the subject matter is a little darker than that implies, but it's not really a lot, more kind of ironic really. The songs are kind of story songs, the sort of thing you might imagine from Pulp, definitely not throwaway fluff, but not tear-jerkers either. It's a good space to be in I think.

All in all, once I got past feeling like the voice was a bit too Robert Smith, I found I was enjoying it, still am in fact. This possibly deserves to be better known than it is.


7.2/10


Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/09K1H1DgyIXHsMx2j7KTFX

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL338501D459562BC0

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty_One_(Mystery_Jets_album)



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