Meho Plaza – Sampler
8/10

Listening to Meho Plaza is like getting to that final destination in the computer game you strived so hard to beat when you were 9, but no matter how hard you tried to turn and press the controller, you just couldn’t stop those angel wings from sprouting and the GAME OVER sign from blaring at you. This isn’t to say it’s a tireless battle, or any sort of work at all. It’s better compared to that sense of elation you feel once you get to that seemingly unreachable level in Sega’s Alex the Kid, past the underwater stage, past the underground stage, to a new dimension you’d never even conceived of before. A kind of surprise and excitement of how wonderfully different it is. New age techno-melodic pop maestros Meho Plaza are as unique as their name suggests, and in all honesty nothing like a Sega game. But they are fun and electronic! Seamless synths, clean calm vocals and technical drumming wizardry, are broken up by the continuous staccato rhythm with a dizzyingly floaty synth. Innocent reveries like Say Go Now give way to disconcerting lurching theatrics in Let’s Play Police. With frequent changes in melody and rhythm, Meho Plaza builds infinite layers of fuzzy distinction and distortion, bending and twisting guitar loops like wires. It is hard to imagine how they could pull this flawless precision off live, yet easy to fathom their popularity. There are elements of Muse in the distorted bass and flaky guitar scales in Your Future Looks Bright, but the vocals are decidedly more downplayed. The squealy guitars that threaten to fly away are somehow held down by the consistent drummer and polished dedication of the bass, and it is this sort of precision that is likely to transfer to the stage very well. Behold, the future looks bright with Meho Plaza.
Sarah

 

Posted by Sarah Gooding under Album, Reviews
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