Mice Parade - What It Means To Be Left-Handed

It's easy for me criticize the work of Adam Peirce as his presence in my musical psyche is taken for granted. I've convinced myself that 'Mokoondi' is the finest Mice Parade album and haven't taken a huge amount of notice of the progress he's made over the past few years both musically and as a band leader (as opposed to a strict solo artist). This one features that Mum singer who's name escapes me as well as posessing all the traits of a great M.P. LP. It's got fantastic beats (I rate him as one of the four best drummers I've ever seen play live... Plus he really looks like he enjoys playing which is rare and only enhances the experience), it's got tropical bits, highlife bits, smooth pop charmers, ace experimental bits, awesome production and layers and layers of utter lushness. Listening to 'What It Means To Left-Handed' is like flying about Adam's body in a miniaturised spaceship ala Dennis Quiad in Inner Space. Still not my favourite M.P. alum but it's a shitload better than most of the music I have to endure each week. Did I say that the drumming was good? ALL DRUMMERS LISTEN UP!! BUY THIS ALBUM and work harder on your shit. If Adam was here now I'd hope that he might say something like... 'If you smoke like I smoke then you're high like every day'.

Mice Parade’s “What It Means to Be Left Handed” kicks off with layers of plucked acoustic guitars over dry, acoustic sounding drums. With a very delicate female vocal. Everything is very woody in a good way; upright bass, fingers on strings, brushed cymbals but played in tight formation, creating delicate tanglings of textures and suddenly the music suddenly gets up and goes off at a pace. I especially like the way they mix droney textures with the guitars. It’s not a combination I’ve heard before.

And now, as I turn over the vinyl, it becomes anthemic with more textural washes of noise and then more grungy, much more noisy than I expected from the couple of tracks I’d heard online. I’m struggling to hang onto something here, the music is changing from track to track – and yet the fragile layers of notes are here, and now the woody, earthy feel, now the acoustic drums. It’s obviously going to take me a few listens but I’m loving it immensely! It’s especially interesting how they manage to intertwine the layers of guitar noise with the much more traditional sounding acoustic instruments. Once in a while you get hit by an album which really glows so vibrantly with creative energy you keep getting pulled back to it – I suspect this might be one of those.