Album Review: Ms Mr - Secondhand Rapture

Arriving with a Tumblr release strategy for debut 2012 EP Candy Bar Creep Show, New York duo MS MR provided a level of intrigue fitting their moody intensity. The project of vocalist Lizzy Plapinger and producer Max Hershenow, debut album Secondhand Rapture includes all four tracks from the EP; that'd be perfectly fine if the additional nine tracks weren't such a baffling fit. And interestingly they make the previously enjoyable singles, including Game Of Thrones trailer track Bones, slightly whiffy.

Falling in with the Florence Welch brand of dramatic indie rock, Plapinger shows her vocal chops off, while Hershenow makes his theme of sparsely accentuated production known – piano chords are left to ring, percussion swings from almost melodic to bangin' and eerie soundscapes add fascination. Head Is Not My Home follows suit with delectably layered harmonies, but the oddities begin with Dark Doo Wop, a literal finger-clicking doo wop number with a brooding symphonic synth line, marching drums and jingle bells. Perhaps if they'd not made the daggy vocal device the title everyone could have felt at least okay about the underlying rhythm buoying an out of place line about the world burning. Think Of You starts with lovely Beth Ditto-esque annunciation but quickly declines into a synth-laden chorus straight from the Stock, Aitken and Waterman toolbox.

There's vocal hooks galore across Secondhand Rapture though the patience required in the drawn out expanses in between dilutes their value after a time, wearing thin as the tail end of the record dishes out teen pop disguised as crescendo-filled dramas, notably BTSK and No Trace. It's not a complete loss, but Secondhand Rapture promised so much more.