Misha – Teardrop Sweetheart Review
Misha is an Electronica group from New York comprised of model Ashley Yao and John Chao. They sound like an electronic based version of the Cocteau Twins, very soft, very airy, very dreamy. The interesting part of this boy/girl group is that John is the vocalist and apparently, Ash the producer. Interesting. Particularly since, I’m used to hearing lullaby vocals from Asian female singers, but not quite the males. And this man sounds like he’s constantly singing a love lullaby for children. For non-Asian music listeners, this is somewhat unusual I guess. But for anybody who listens to enough Asian music – with the exception of Korean music, who for some odd reason love the gospel choir style – a lullaby slow jam is a regular thing.
Like last week’s Kraak & Smaak review, Misha’s 2007 Teardrop Sweetheart makes for good background music. I would say more specifically, study music. It’s the type of music, you play and next thing you know it’s done (40 minutes short only). You wonder, where did the songs go? The lyrics are not particularly interesting. In fact, half the time, it’s so drowsy sounding I don’t know what he’s saying. He does however, for the first half of the album, have a very pronounced way of singing — it’s just not interesting enough to keep me awake. Then, there’s the lullaby element, which is not for everybody. It’s actually somewhat disturbing when he’s singing the ever-so-unoriginal lyrics, “Anaconda, sitting in a Honda, waiting for the backseat show, she’s go go go, and I’m shaking my pom pom bon bons” on Anaconda. Sexual content + lullaby (when you sound like you’re singing for children) = disturbing.
The first couple of tracks sound Bossa Nova-ish (+lullaby of course) with xylophones and light acoustic guitars. The album starts picking up and heading into a different direction around the 5th track (Summersend). The words become inaudible, but I know Ash (the girl) starts contributing some vocals. It’s a great combination because her voice is light too but not as pronounced as his. The entire Cruelish Heart track is sung in a “funny” voice (I don’t know what it’s called, I just know Kanye & Jay-Z use it a lot). And for the rest of the album, John drops the lullaby act and picks up a John Lennon influenced slur on his vocals. Still, there is that soft airy/dreamy element to it, but the track become darker. This is when I actually start enjoying the album.
My favourites: The Book (of Glaciers), Cruelish Heart, and Weatherbees.
Misha – The Book (Of Glaciers)
Tags: album, coko, Misha, teardrop sweetheart
She’s hot.