MOUSE – Angels Never Die
Bristol based artist MOUSE brings us her first EP in the form of ‘Angels Never Die’ a self-produced, ambitious club pop eight track EP. MOUSE has received great praise from music publications such as London is Calling and Clash to name just a few, and after hearing this EP you can see why.
The EP opens rather wonderfully with ‘Diamonds (overture)’ a song which sounds akin to the opening of a fantasy movie introduction. ‘Diamonds’ is a grand orchestral piece, filled with strings and brass and as a short opening track is an intriguing and differently cool concept. This song can easily be paired with the final track on the collection ‘Ascent (finale)’ which adopts the same style but is somewhat darker in character. A beautifully composed piece, ‘Ascent’ sounds like the grandiose ending to a concept album. Track 2 ‘A.N.D’ brings a sudden change of pace and theme of club pop/hyper-pop, signalling more of what is to come in the rest of the EP in terms of sound and production values.
Track 3, ‘Unladylike’ is one of my personal favourites as it challenges gender norms with lyrics like “people tell me I’m unladylike” and “I admit there’s etiquette I’m missing”. ‘Unladylike’ opens with a heated phone conversation, followed by a fun upbeat pop song with impressive vocals and excellent production. Another stand out track has to be ‘Love Me Like You’re Gonna Lose Me’, poetic lyrics like “you know the way to thaw my heart” and the variation of sound in each section, with the verses sounding much more chilled and relaxed, which melt smoothly into the bass heavy dance chorus to truly make this song feel unique.
The fourth song is ‘Skin’, a darker sounding club pop track which features powerful vocals and great production quality again. The title of track 5 ‘Pity Sex’ is self-explanatory really, with lines like “baby you know you’re not my type” and “I don’t need you” contrasting against an otherwise fun dance/pop song with cool instrumental and vocal harmonies. ‘Heavy Crown’ opens with a more acoustic introduction bringing a welcome change of pace to proceedings. This song seems to be about power, with lines like “it’s such a heavy crown, do you wanna cut me out”, it is yet another powerful song to add to the mix.
‘Angels Never Die’ is a strong collection of songs, featuring an abundance of fun club pop songs with dance-along qualities which should find wider appeal when clubs re-open. The production values and vocal ability on this EP are absurdly good, so kudos to that.
‘Angels Never Die’ is released on the 26th of February.
Alice Bloor
