Album Review: Ms Mr - Secondhand Rapture

Sit back into your chair and drift. It's probably the most appropriate thing to do when listening to the relaxed, swelling sounds of Ms Mr. Just chill out and let the music wash over your ears. From the first, loose beats of opener (and standout) Hurricane to Lizzy Plapinger's vocal gymnastics throughout the outro of closer This Isn't Control, Secondhand Rapture is a brooding beast.

Of course, the album isn't all some kind of Chillout Sessions rip off; there are some loud moments like Bones, with Plapinger's vocals recalling Florence Welch or Katie Stelmanis from Austra. And Max Hershenow's produced drums and backing instruments are expertly collated to lend a driven, deliberate direction to the record.

Lyrically, there's not a whole lot to get excited about. Sure, there are some great singalong tunes like Fantasy (the line “How could you be what I wanted to see” repeated ad nauseum is enough to get even the most hardened hipster belting the lyrics out), and by simply repeating the lines on Dark Doo Wop, Salty Sweet and Think Of You, after just one listen it's easy to sing along. But aside from the catchy elements, lines like “It didn't come easy/I'm glad it was hard/Worth the wait/To give you my heart” do little to inspire.

Of course, to focus too heavily on the lyrics of Secondhand Rapture would be to detract from the strength of the album: the interplay between Plapinger's vocals and Hershenow's production. Never does one get in the way of the other, the balance between the two evenly poised throughout the entire album. It will be interesting to see what direction Ms Mr take next.