Album Review: Totally Mild Analyze Self- Destruction In Her
Sometimes, we self-destruct because we are addicted to discomfort. Being “okay” seems too boring, and being happy feels too finite and unstable. Thus, we press the auto-destruct button on our lives in a saddened effort to add some “spice”. Totally Mild’s Her questions why we cannot be fine with being “fine”.
Elizabeth Mitchell is known for two things: her bejeweled voice and universal lyricism. When she sings, it as if she is placing diamonds on a golden, music necklace. Her vocals feel fluorescent as they glow from songs such as, “From One Another” and “Take Today”. Yet, the illuminative quality of her vocals is important because Her ranges in sounds. You can get a piano ballad like “Lucky Stars” or a surfed, jangling melody as in “Pearl”. Yet, the most important quality in their range of swimming hooks and plush baselines is that their sound is both dramatic and fragile.
Tracks like, “Working Like A Crow”, “Sky”, and “Underwater” are lyrically delicate like paper Mitchell is about to set on fire with emotions that are too raw for such pretty music. Often, we describe reality as “ugly” or “negative”, of which “music” is deemed “beautiful” and “relieving”. That is why when reality meets music it can feel like a gorgeous release of negative energy. Yet, Mitchell is so deep and intricate in her songwriting that Her transforms beyond another “sad album” into a needed observation of sadness or humans’ inability to be happy.
Unlike joy, sadness, if you look for her, will show up. Self-destruction is always “down to hang”, but creativity loves to leave, get blocked, or not show up at all. The best things in life are usually hard, while the worst things are easy. Yet, when things are not good or bad, it seems like they are not anything of value, and Totally Mild’s Her shows how that opens people up to dangerous decisions because many have the tendency to go for an easy wrong rather than a better, but harder choice. Thus, Totally Mild is an excellent listen, but they also makes the transition into valuable discussions. For More Information On Totally Mild And To Buy Her on February 23 Click Here.
