Ears Wide Open: MXMS

Kevin Bronson on June 22nd, 2015

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As part of Grammy-winning Shiny Toy Guns, Jeremy Dawson was at the vanguard of advancing the sleek, synth-fueled sounds of the 1980s into the new millenium, negotiating the turbulent waters of band drama to make three albums of goth-inspired, hyper-emotional electro-rock. The keyboardist’s newest venture with singer Ariel Levitan is MXMS (“me and my shadow”), which is similarly cinematic. In fact, the duo refer to their “funeral-pop” as a multimedia project, having last fall produced fashion designer Asher Levine’s runway show-cum-funeral procession in New York City. (MXMS has a finished script and film project in the works as well.) The duo’s first two songs are stark and foreboding, inspired, they say, by episodes in a “toxic life” and drawing on musical influences as disparate as Serge Gainsbourg and Lush. From the first line of “OMG” — “I’m stuck in you like heroin” — both are chillingly beautiful. The songs, already out digitally, will be out next month on a 7-inch via Grand Jury Records (Twin Peaks, Carl Barat, Avid Dancer). Wear black and take deep breaths.

||| Stream: “OMG” and “Rx”