The Day You Flew Away
El Marko, 2020
10/10
Listen to The Day You Flew Away
Every time the Cleveland duo of Mr. Gnome, i.e. Nicole Baille and Sam Meister, release a record, it’s always some perplexing variation of pop, rock, art and dance that’s sometimes aggressive enough to fall under alt-rock, and other times tailor made for the dance floor. Here the married pair offer us 26 tracks of their inimitable formula after a fairly lengthy break amid some significant life changes.
The title track starts the listen with psychedelic ambience as bright vocals enter the heavily textured landscape, and this creativity extends to the percussively strong and soaring “Insane Love”, as well as the retro-rock flavored “Golden Daze”.
Closer to the middle, “How To Talk In Technicolor” flirts with ‘80 New Wave as current electro-pop ideas enter with much mystery, while “Psychonaut” is a club friendly offering with a dense beat that’s not short on grooves. “Gold Edges”, one of the record’s best, then bursts with anthemic, thumping rock’n’roll in its fuzzy and charged execution.
Deeper yet, “It Really Don’t Matter” flows with a stylish and playful pop dynamic, and “Long Way” exits the listen busy and melodic with a flurry of diverse musicianship.
Since their last album in 2014, Mr. Gnome has seen family members pass away and a child being born, as both their lives have been dismantled and reconstructed with a new reality. Certainly fodder for songwriting material, as someone who has spent considerable time with their entire catalog, I feel very confident saying that The Day You Flew Away is their most adventurous and luminous to date.
Travels well with: Jake Allen- Affirmation Day; The Flaming Lips- The Kings Mouth