Mystery Jets
Twenty-One
679 Records
By Dany Sloan
Being in a touring band with your father can be a rather daunting task. With their first album, Blaine and Henry Harrison were joined by three of the former’s friends to create music that wasn’t easily pinned down, drawing equal influence from folk, Americana, post punk and eastern European sounds. It could have been the music Eugene Hutz made if he were a proper English schoolboy. Unfortunately the final product didn’t deliver on the band’s high potential.
With Twenty-One, daddy is gone and the band has refined their sound to create one of this year’s very best records. The band may be more palatable, but now they’re also more memorable by understanding that their quirkiness is something that has a time and a place.
Lead single “Young Love” may at first sound like a not-so-subtle grab at a high chart position, but if you dig deeper, it’s easy to realize that this melody has always been there, but the band has always been afraid to fully embrace it. Maybe it’s their outsider’s mentality working against them, but now that they have taken this brave new step forward can they finally realize that writing a pop gem doesn’t mean you have to lose yourself to do it.
To really appreciate this record, you need to go beyond the singles (“Flakes” and “Two Doors Down”) because this is a record without any throwaways. “Half in Love With Elizabeth,” which surfaced on the internet late last year in a stripped-down acoustic form, shows that the band can not just mix it up when it comes to instrumentation, but they’re also increasingly proficient in the lyrical department. It’s easy to just focus on the song’s structure, but that early version of the song put the gut-wrenching lyrics in the forefront.
“Hand Me Down” is another lyrical masterpiece, taking the line “your heart is like a hand me down/something to toss around and round” and turning into a hummable refrain. From a lyrical standout, this song is sad and melancholy, but you’d never realize it if you weren’t paying attention; how could any song this catchy be sad?
The chances of Mystery Jets making a run in the States are nil as they expertly tap into a vein of Britannia that most Americans just can’t identify with. The one thing they have going for them is some fucking awesome tunes as they’ve figured out how to split the difference between kooky and palatable. It’s a precarious balance, but it’s one they seem quite comfortable with, worldwide acceptance or not.
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