Friday, December 30, 2011

Milagres - Glowing Mouth (2011)

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My introduction to Brooklyn indie rock quintet Milagres is wholly due to Sam at Middle Class White Noise. While preparing to post his favorite tracks of the year late last month, Sam created an extensive playlist of tracks from the year and while familiar with several of the artists, Milagres was the first one that stuck out to me as one I had no head of before.

Milagres' sophomore album Glowing Mouth was released on a day already populated by dozens of brilliant follow ups and perhaps unsurprisingly what truly caught my ear during my first listen was a sense of familiarity. But not in a been there done that sense. No, Milagres seemed to capture little pieces of the bands I really like without actually sounding too much like them. From The Delorean-esque subdued epicness of "Fright of Thee", Wild Beasts’ artful arrangement-consciousness and falsetto on title track “Glowing Mouth”, to a folksy drawl and pastoral image painting reminiscent of Bowerbirds' Phil Moore in "Doubted" and yet, these small parts don't eclipse the originality of ideas or sounds that Milagres can rightfully call their own. Milagres’ strength is as much in its undeniably memorable little moments as in its ability to stitch tons of those moments into a whole song.

So while it may have been Milagres' similarity to other bands I liked that made me take notice, it’s their own slow-building, gently unfurling moments that made me stick around. Each track on Glowing Mouth manages to sound distinctly different from the other while at the same time containing certain transferring elements – like the intricate forays into dreaminess or stadium rock flights of fancy. Milagres, with its talents for blending many different elements essentially cement their place as one of my favorite bands – the band that transcends genre and is just plain good. The kind of band whose music you have to break out because no explanation will be compare.


Get a taste of Milagres with this live acoustic video of "Lost in the Dark" for Big Ugly Yellow Couch and if you like it, make sure to check out their latest album Glowing Mouth:

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