Meekos and Me
We were recently sent through ‘Anxious Little Turtles’ by Meekos and Me, an LA based band courtesy of Josh at Invengo Records. The band is comprised of singer, songwriter and guitarist Joey Colando, classically trained cellist Danny Grab, bassist and producer Joshua Rumer and Mia Barcia-Colombo on backing vocals – which immediately grabbed my attention because of the idea of a cello! Reading on, they describe their music as ‘drawing on several musical genres including folk, Americana, jazz, pop and rock with soft unconventional guitar progressions, equally unconventional cello licks mixed in with an array of percussion styles and spacey synthesizers’ – which further grabs my attention as I’ve got no idea what I’m in for here! (Note – for the purposes of the review I have covered the first 5 tracks of the album to give a general over view – there are 14 tracks in total on the album).
Entropy begins to answer some of those questions for me, opening with what can only be described as a sound which is simply sublime, the acoustic guitar leading the way whilst the cello adds an extra level which I’ve never encountered before, it just seems to elevate it. The vocals are smooth and soothing, acting as a driving force over the backing music whilst keeping everything serene and peaceful. The unconventional guitar progressions begin to become apparent in this track, but again this seems to further develop the track and make you want to hear what’s going to come next. The most striking thing here for me is the production of the whole track, every single element can be heard and is used to bolster the track into something which you could easily imagine getting serious radio play and becoming a hell of a well known track, I mean the whole thing is just perfect quality wise without losing an ounce of integrity.
Grove Street follows on at number 2, a track which once again opens with a soaring cello line, elevating the track and adding in a classic and emotional feeling to proceedings. The track is once again based around a soft and soothing acoustic line and a smooth and clean vocal line, still catchy and infectious as it progresses. Becoming more up tempo during the chorus section of the track, the drums elevate this track further whilst the cello adds a haunting and reflective note behind the scenes, you can’t help but sit back and think about the past as this track plays out its tune. As if to compliment the track further, Underwater Dream comes up next and opens with more of that haunting cello before adding in an effect laden guitar line. The feeling created here is perfect for the track title, the music fits perfectly with the idea of being underwater and once again relaxes you and causes you to just listen to what’s going on. It’s amazing how striking these tracks really are when you break them apart as conventionally, they shouldn’t necessarily work. What you get with them though are tracks which you can’t help but listen to and end up loving, they get in your head and you find yourself humming them when you least expect it, the music seemingly fitting different events which you experience in life, something which I’ve never encountered musically before.
Animals In My Room comes up next, a much more upbeat track which can’t help but lift your spirits after the previous chilled out tracks. This track is the sort of thing you imagine accompanying a happy moment in a movie, it’s got that beat which makes you want to skip along to it yet it’s still deep and reflective somehow. All of the elements are once again clear to hear within the mix they’ve achieved here, this time using layers of vocals to further enhance the track over the cello and guitar mix. It’s almost a shock when Bags Of Colour comes into being initially, the cello once again opening proceedings and suggesting this is once again going to be a more emotional track, before everything else kicks in and almost makes the track funky. The bass is much more prominent in this track which further develops things, adding the cello in to elevate it further and keeping the beat simple so as not to confuse things. What you end up with is a track which you will simply marvel at, it’s well written, well performed and once again, well produced. Stereotypically, this is the sort of track I would probably shrug off if I read about it, but when you listen to it it’s much more than that, it’s one which you want to see develop, you want to see it performed in front of you so you can just see how the band can perform this well as a unit.
I know I’ve only covered 5 tracks from the album but that was a decision I made once I’d listened to it a few times, purely because this is an album which you need to hear to understand. This music is far beyond any simplistic genre or tag which I could apply to it so it’s impossible to pigeon hole, it’s music which will lift your spirits, make you reflect and cause an emotional change within you as you listen to it. It’s well written, well produced and the final product is quite simply a triumph. As I’ve said, typically on paper I’d probably have looked at this and said no, but listening to it the music is so accessible and easy to listen to that I think a lot of people are going to love this music, so make sure you check it out.
Little Turtles (produced and arranged by Joshua Rumer of Invengo Productions) by Meekos and Me is available now.
To find out more about Meekos and Me, check out their Facebook page HERE.
Entropy begins to answer some of those questions for me, opening with what can only be described as a sound which is simply sublime, the acoustic guitar leading the way whilst the cello adds an extra level which I’ve never encountered before, it just seems to elevate it. The vocals are smooth and soothing, acting as a driving force over the backing music whilst keeping everything serene and peaceful. The unconventional guitar progressions begin to become apparent in this track, but again this seems to further develop the track and make you want to hear what’s going to come next. The most striking thing here for me is the production of the whole track, every single element can be heard and is used to bolster the track into something which you could easily imagine getting serious radio play and becoming a hell of a well known track, I mean the whole thing is just perfect quality wise without losing an ounce of integrity.
Grove Street follows on at number 2, a track which once again opens with a soaring cello line, elevating the track and adding in a classic and emotional feeling to proceedings. The track is once again based around a soft and soothing acoustic line and a smooth and clean vocal line, still catchy and infectious as it progresses. Becoming more up tempo during the chorus section of the track, the drums elevate this track further whilst the cello adds a haunting and reflective note behind the scenes, you can’t help but sit back and think about the past as this track plays out its tune. As if to compliment the track further, Underwater Dream comes up next and opens with more of that haunting cello before adding in an effect laden guitar line. The feeling created here is perfect for the track title, the music fits perfectly with the idea of being underwater and once again relaxes you and causes you to just listen to what’s going on. It’s amazing how striking these tracks really are when you break them apart as conventionally, they shouldn’t necessarily work. What you get with them though are tracks which you can’t help but listen to and end up loving, they get in your head and you find yourself humming them when you least expect it, the music seemingly fitting different events which you experience in life, something which I’ve never encountered musically before.
Animals In My Room comes up next, a much more upbeat track which can’t help but lift your spirits after the previous chilled out tracks. This track is the sort of thing you imagine accompanying a happy moment in a movie, it’s got that beat which makes you want to skip along to it yet it’s still deep and reflective somehow. All of the elements are once again clear to hear within the mix they’ve achieved here, this time using layers of vocals to further enhance the track over the cello and guitar mix. It’s almost a shock when Bags Of Colour comes into being initially, the cello once again opening proceedings and suggesting this is once again going to be a more emotional track, before everything else kicks in and almost makes the track funky. The bass is much more prominent in this track which further develops things, adding the cello in to elevate it further and keeping the beat simple so as not to confuse things. What you end up with is a track which you will simply marvel at, it’s well written, well performed and once again, well produced. Stereotypically, this is the sort of track I would probably shrug off if I read about it, but when you listen to it it’s much more than that, it’s one which you want to see develop, you want to see it performed in front of you so you can just see how the band can perform this well as a unit.
I know I’ve only covered 5 tracks from the album but that was a decision I made once I’d listened to it a few times, purely because this is an album which you need to hear to understand. This music is far beyond any simplistic genre or tag which I could apply to it so it’s impossible to pigeon hole, it’s music which will lift your spirits, make you reflect and cause an emotional change within you as you listen to it. It’s well written, well produced and the final product is quite simply a triumph. As I’ve said, typically on paper I’d probably have looked at this and said no, but listening to it the music is so accessible and easy to listen to that I think a lot of people are going to love this music, so make sure you check it out.
Little Turtles (produced and arranged by Joshua Rumer of Invengo Productions) by Meekos and Me is available now.
To find out more about Meekos and Me, check out their Facebook page HERE.