Murder Mystery
Are You Ready For
The Heartache Cause
Here It Comes
Murder Mystery
By J. Poet
Important disclaimer: there is a band called Murder Mystery in Detroit, and a band in Dallas called Murder Myster Players. This review has nothing to do with them. The band in point here is the New York City based pop rock band Murder Mystery. They may be the best new rock band you've never heard. When you listen to the first song, "Who Doesn't Wanna Give Me Love?," your jaw is going to hit the floor. A clean, jangly electric guitar hook from Kevin Jaszek, and the funky, vague Motown R&B rhythms of drummer Laura Coleman and bass man Adam Fels set up Jeremy Coleman's terse vocals.
Coleman’s delivery is melodic, but so understated it almost sounds like he’s talking. The technique gives his tales of heartache and romance gone awry a geeky sincerity; think of a slightly depressed David Byrne or a more tuneful Leonard Cohen. It’s a song of missed connections and when he sings the tag line, which is also the album’s title, anyone who’s ever failed in love will smile and nod sadly. “Love Astronaut” features a neat synthesizer hook and long, fuzzy sustained notes from Jaszek’s guitar. If it had slicker production it could pass for an 80s dance track, but its low-key sound, the work of JP Bowersock (Ryan Adams, The Strokes), gives it a timeless vibe. It’ll sound as good in 20 years as it does today and Coleman gives us another instantly sing-along chorus with the line, 'I go looking for love, but is it looking for me?' The disjointed lyric and bouncy rhythm give the song a playful feel, but again Coleman’s flat delivery portends more loss and heartache.
“Sooner or Later” drops a surf guitar hook onto a slightly Latin rhythm, while Coleman tells a happy friend that sooner or later he, or she’s, going to be down. “Honey Come Home” is a jaunty advertisement of the singer’s loving expertise, a bluesy shuffle full of good humor. Jaszek’s guitar drops a solo that’s equal parts pop, blues, country and rock, something we haven’t heard since the heyday of Chuck Berry, but there’s not a trace of Berry in Jaszek’s licks, no mean feat. “What My Baby Said” has a 50s doo wop chord structure and girl group hand clap rhythms, as Coleman finally sounds guardedly happy, cause what his baby said was 'I love you in a way that you’ll never love me back.'
It’s Coleman’s ability to put an ironic spin, even on the happiest moments, that gives these tunes their edge and makes them more than bright, mindless pop tunes. Anyone who loves pure, hard rocking, intelligent rock in the mode of Nick Lowe, Magnetic Fields or Talking Heads will fall in love with this band.
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