Mikal Cronin

Add Date: May 14 

Artist: Mikal Cronin 

Album: MCII 

Label: Merge 

Genre: Rock 

Comments: For his sophomore LP and Merge Records debut, California native Mikal Cronin sought inspiration from the likes of David Bowie, Elliott Smith and Bill Fay. It's hardly unusual for a young musician to draw upon such luminaries in the songwriting field--unless your earlier work was pigeonholed into the garage rock genre. As such, MCII represents a change in direction: much like his frequent collaborator Ty Segall, Cronin is quickly proving his musical talent and versatility.

MCII is hardly a complete departure for Cronin, as several songs still hint at his garage and '80s and '90s alternative influences. "See It My Way" is post-grunge, if you will, and Segall steps in to shred the guitar on "Am I Wrong" and "I'm Done Running for You". But elsewhere, piano overtakes the guitar--Cronin wrote a good deal of the record on piano, and it leads to cuts like the excellent opening track "Weight"--while K. Dylan Edrich's viola and violin add another dimension to songs like "Peace of Mind" and "Change".

Overall, an excellent record. Start with tracks 1, 5, 3, 4, 7 and 6.