MARY AT MIDNIGHT – EP REVIEW

Mary At Midnight - Heads Will Roll EP

Mary At Midnight – Heads Will Roll EP

Release Date: November 2012

Oh great, yet another female singer-songwriter who has switched from the acoustic, folk world to the arena of electronica. That’s original. I mean, nobody has ever tried that before have they? I suppose I’ll give it a listen but I don’t really expect................hang on............what’s this?...........this is different. This is like Kate Bush singing Kimbra’s quirky songs with Florence + the Machine’s more ethereal tunes underneath it all. This is sumptuously multilayered and beautifully crafted music that has been put together with care, love and Swiss precision, which is odd considering the woman who has conjured up this music is part Indian, part North-Eastern, part London resident Kiran Hungin. Hungin is a musician who revels in creating music in that time between realising you are deprived of sleep and actually falling asleep. Those moments when the lines between reality and dreams are blurred and when you feel that blissful wooziness take over all of your decision making.

Title track ‘Heads Will Roll’ has nothing to do with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs track of the same name but it does possess the same pop potency as its doppelganger. A lurching beat drags the scattered melodies along a beach lit only by the first light of dawn and the embers of the previous night’s fires. There are folky, celtic influences at play that build in to a powerfully spirited chorus that evokes the image of forbidden lovers clinging desperately to each other in defiance against the world. ‘Palms’ is perhaps a more straight forward electro pop ditty but it still contains a sense 80s urgency and has synth laden chorus that wouldn’t be out of place playing over the credits of a thriller as the heroin watches the sun rise on a day she didn’t think she would live to see. ‘Army of Angels’ showcases the more soulful side of Hungin’s voice over a stumbling piano riff and lilting bass line and what emerges is a love song of epic proportions. This is pure, unadulterated pop music but with sophistication, intelligence and emotional depth that the likes of Jessie J can only peer enviously at through the shop window.

Mary At Midnight may be a one woman show but there is no doubt that she has the ability to go to the top as a musician or songwriter for performing pop-puppets. For my money it should only be a matter of time before Mary At Midnight is mentioned in the same breath as Florence, Goldfrapp and Sia. However, that will depend on how these songs are performed live and whether they are considered pop, alternative, electronica or, as should be, as all three. So, just goes show, don’t judge a book by its cover or an artist by their genre.


More M@M info at: http://www.maryatmidnight.com/

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