The Frost
The Age
Friday March 19, 2010
Micaiah (MGM Green/A New Entity) ˜…˜…˜…OH, NO! Not another impassioned singer/songwriter compelled to share his muse with us. Fear not, for indeed Micaiah is a solo act (with a solo name) but for his first long-player he's had the good sense to put his musical fortunes in the capable hands of Marty Brown. The result is a richly textured set of several easy-to-like soft-rock songs, embellished with layers of percussion, keys and guitars nicely carrying Micaiah's pleasing voice, reminiscent of Brandon Curtis in Secret Machines. He's an earnest, gentle singer, with a touch of Joe Pernice in the delivery. There's good variety in the song structures, emphasised by Brown's clever choices of instrumentation: pumping, gasping organ on the title track; folky fiddle on New Home; droning cello on Pearls; choir vocals on Hey My Dear. Sadly, the material tails off towards the end of the record; the last three tracks meander to a disappointing coda. You can hear Micaiah starting to reach higher into his emotional register on the record's strongest track, Needles, and you'd have to say the young man from the Dandenongs has delivered a promising debut.JEFF GLORFELD
© 2010 The Age
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