Two star and the dream police
Alternative ? Analog ? RnB ? Mk.Gee.
Mk.Gee’s ‘Two Star and the Dream Police’ unearths emotions in a way that feels familiar -accessible to those of us who may be afraid of reminiscing, perhaps it still hurts. Accented by live performance -contextualized underwater & raining purple in the reverberated fuzz of it all, Mk.Gee brings new dimension to what feels like nostalgia for sounds you’ve never met. Fuzz box guitar riffs and reverberated percussion disorient you, breaking your idea of sound before introducing you to more illuminating concepts of love lost and a genuine self exposed to the elements.
So here you are, entangled in the judicial system of the dream police, caught in a nebulous of star eyed lovers reminding you of your very own. Stowed away in what sounds like liminal space, echoing into you its warm.
This feels like Prince -like vulnerability in the key of distortion, struck with jittery chords of a skeletal orchestra, misguided and still incubating. Carving itself into a space that feels just within reach. Reference tracks to be polished and PR trained for peddling, though this expression in its purest form is always warmest. And to say these sounds are unpolished would be sacrilegious to the artistry at hand, disrespectful to the energy emitted.
This is what is so impactful about MK.Gee’s music -the self he exposes so elegantly -warbled in reflection; the rising swoons, the industrial foley, all culminating into compositions in vulnerability. The lingering remnants of an anxiety attack passed, familiar to all like strangers that never felt like strangers in the first place.
“How many Times” arrives through the stylized metronome of a Law & Order-esque procedural theme song, with warbled guitar riffs soon breaching to materialize early hints of what’s to come throughout the album.
’Are you looking up’ litters the foreground with notes of billowy bells & cascading guitar riffs to skitter across more muted percussive elements, in the style of the warm drum set of the 60’s. Mk.Gee approaches this sound with sentimentality, channeling the far-away vocals of a rooftop Paul McCartney and John Lennon alike, giving the air of something that was produced much before it’s time; in a room of overlapped oriental rugs drowned in the suet of cigarette smoke from those that inhabit it, exposing themselves fully on record. This track is an exploration in fuzz, with Mk.Gee drowning even himself out by the elements of off screen claps, tinny snare snaps and the industrial hum of buzz saws driving the convoy home in its closing moments.
‘You got it’ sheds itself of any excess, delivering a more romantic gesture, wherein Mk.Gee fights for this love over lowpass drums and effervescent guitar notes that feel like spotlights swimming the sky electric.
‘Candy’ introduces us to another exhibition in nostalgia, feeling as though it’s fluttered out from a passerby’s walkman or recorded on tape from the radio and played into infinity, cementing the grit and fuzz of it all into its final expression. A novella of lovers in quarrel, with ‘Candy’ seeking to unearth skeletons that mirror her own. Mk.Gee expresses compromise in this resolve, synthesizing this idea in his lyrics aptly.
“I cut you slack, you cut me mine”
If Stings, ‘Police’ were of any inspiration to this bouncing lull, the Dream Police are a meditation in reflection, giving us the negative of an image tucked deep in the recesses of the family photo album, where things were warmer, those since passed were spry and joy was substantive. And Candy afforded us our transgressions.
The title track, ‘Dream Police’ is where things crescendo, where the lowlight exposure begins to take form, silhouetted through warbling water textures, introducing you to the maudlin swoon of Mk.Gees lush vocals.
As in the live performance, this experience can be had remiss of more typical percussive elements, which are instead supplemented by the slap of brass and nickel against wooden necks, radiating their magnetic ensnaring outward from amplifier, creating this kind of doubly exposed image. While these elements coalesce to create a gentle lullaby, it’s in the sparseness of it all, the bare -raw exposed self that is showcased where you find the heart of what Mk.Gee brings to listeners. With an underwater bass line dragging you in its undertow, hints of Jaco Pastorious ride waves of lyrics on lovers in crisis.
“I’ll never leave, I won’t run for my life, but I’m taking all my love”
It should be noted that the falling accent in melody of this last line of the chorus sent me into spiral, searching the recesses of my mind for its auditory doppelgänger. This was later found to be Tyreses “act like that”, only furthering the soulful spirit in this dream landscape.
MK.Gee’s “Two Star and the Dream Police” provides listeners respite from heartache, all the while reminding us why we found it so warm to begin with.
Listed as alternative on Apple Music, it should be noted that what’s being presented by Mk.Gee and the ethereal dream police goes far beyond this title, imbuing notes of RnB, Soul and a warmth I’ve only met in artists like long time collaborator Dijon, Houston based artist Reggie and the underground flips of prolific hip-hop producer Knxwledge.
In listening to this album I found myself underwater, looking up, watching as the air bubbles rise slowly towards obsolescence, to meet the rest, incubating beneath the surface. Above all else, I wanted more. Take note. Don’t sleep on the Dream Police.
Two star and the dream police scores a weighty heartache you may have long since forgotten, having lived enough to bury such hurt, toiling away in the ether. Dressing your maudlin just right.
