Album Review: Mxmtoon’s The Masquerade Is A Welcomed Debut

If Fiona Apple and Zooey Deschanel decided to throw a parade celebrating feeling, I believe it would be MXMTOON’s The Masquerade. There is something smart, joyous, and introverted about this debut, which describes the latter artists. These ladies further defined femininity in music; creating sonic spaces where women could say they were sensual, sentimental, and starry as human beings. Yet, call it a sign of the times, but as more younger women rise in the industry, their sound feels exuberantly shy. 

When you look back as some classic artists, from Etta James to Janis Joplin, they felt like supernovas glam and living on the edge. MXMTOON’s draws upon those images with a quietness and cosmic thoughtfulness. She makes looking inward feel like a red carpet walk to better living. Yet, like many lyricists, the hope is that in confronting the wrong you, actually, get right. Hence, tracks like, “Seasonal Depression,” “High & Dry,” “Blame Game,” and “Late Nights” hangs like streamers across your mind’s room; lighting up all the times your heart broke or you broke another’s heart. 

mxmtoon – prom dress (official video)

One thing, I like about MXMTOON’s songs is that she does keep a level of self-accountability. It is not all “you hurt me,” but what led her to seek the pain in or for others and then call it love. Luckily, her voice is definitively tender; reminding me of Kimya Dawson’s Juno lullabies. All you have to do is press play, and MXMTOON treats being a young adult like a children’s book; it is colorful, adventurous, and can only be surmised is a few, simple rhymes. While feelings can be complicated, MXMTOON brilliantly uses simple verses and guitar melodies to etch out their complexities. In essence, the reason it is so hard to explain why you are sad or happy is because the words literally describe themselves but your feelings cannot. Words don’t suffice, but MXMTOONs songs do. For More Information On MXMTOON and to buy The Masquerade Click Here. 

mxmtoon – seasonal depression (official video)