{"id":3741,"date":"2016-11-01T15:36:26","date_gmt":"2016-11-01T15:36:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-megaflora-redwood\/"},"modified":"2016-11-01T15:36:26","modified_gmt":"2016-11-01T15:36:26","slug":"review-megaflora-redwood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-megaflora-redwood\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Megaflora – Redwood"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Not all music is totally original. In fact, it could be argued that most of it is largely derivative. However, an artist can free themselves from the trappings of conventional-sounding music by way of transcendent songwriting, or even a gimmick for those less talented. Unfortunately, London’s Megaflora<\/b> have neither of these.<\/p>\n

Megaflora<\/b>’s sound on their new mini-album, ‘Redwoods’<\/i> (a follow-up to last year’s self-titled EP) is an updated version of C86 indie-pop, all jangly guitars and twee-sounding vocals. While this is not a bad thing in of itself, it doesn’t bring anything new to the table.<\/p>\n

There are flourishes of potential and interesting ideas, such as the subtle yet effective vocal harmonies that kick in during the latter half of ‘Stories’<\/i>, or the melancholy guitar tone that resonates throughout ‘Confidence’<\/i>. The vocal play-offs between the two vocalists throughout also work well, giving the songs more nuance.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

However, these flashes are all too fleeting, and most of ‘Redwoods’<\/i> melds into the same, unoriginal mess, with many of the songs sounding too much like each other. The opening two tracks, ‘London’<\/i> and ‘A Mess’<\/i> sound like the same song played at different speeds, and there isn’t anything that particularly sticks out until ‘Confidence’<\/i>.<\/p>\n

The final track, ‘Anxious’<\/i> is a decent enough song on its own, but ends the album on an odd, messy note, feeling flat and anti-climatic: a jarring end to a largely uneventful album.<\/p>\n

That’s not to say that ‘Redwood’<\/i> is terrible: it’s a warm and sometimes fun throwaway indie-pop album that’s filled with charm. Fans of the jangly, twee indie-pop will find a halfway decent listen here, but there’s not much in the way of substance for the average listener. ‘Redwood’<\/i> is generally unfulfilling and at times tedious because of its lack of originality. Hopefully next time around Megaflora<\/b> can deliver a more satisfying album, because it’s still early days for them and there is potential here.<\/p>\n

2.5\/5<\/p>\n

‘Redwood’<\/i> by Megaflora<\/b> is out now on Everything Sucks Music<\/b>.<\/p>\n

Megaflora<\/b> links: Facebook<\/a>|Twitter<\/a>|Bandcamp<\/a><\/p>\n

Words by Alan Cunningham (@funeral_polis<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Not all music is totally original. In fact, it could be argued that most of it is largely derivative. However, an artist can free themselves from the trappings of conventional-sounding music by way of transcendent songwriting, or even a gimmick for those less talented. Unfortunately, London’s Megaflora have neither of these. Megaflora’s sound on their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15882,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[2702,2745,2416],"class_list":["post-3741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-album-reviews","tag-everything-sucks-music","tag-megaflora","tag-redwood"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nReview: Megaflora - Redwood - Already Heard Staging<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Not all music is totally original. 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