A dreamy journey through past and present.
Miki Berenyi, Oliver Cherer, and KJ “Moose” McKillop are no strangers to the limelight. Berenyi rose to fame as the lead singer of shoegaze icons and Britpop darlings Lush (via Classic Pop Mag). Following the group’s disbandment, Berenyi collaborated with Cherer and McKillop in Piroshka, touring in 2021 to support their sophomore album Love Drips and Gathers (via Classic Pop Mag and Bandcamp). The three eventually formed The Miki Berenyi Trio after reuniting again to tour in support of Berenyi’s autobiography, Fingers, Crossed: How Music Saved Me from Success. As the Miki Berenyi Trio, frontwoman Berenyi, bassist Cherer, and guitarist McKillop bring their past into their debut album, Tripla, infusing it into its underlying genres and themes, while also diving into new sounds and sharing insight on new experiences and societal observations.
Sonically, Tripla never strays far from the dream pop and shoegaze influences that defined Berenyi, Cherer, and McKollips’ respective musical upbringings. The breathy, wistful vocals of Berenyi blend seamlessly with the surrounding instrumentals, distorted guitars, and hazy atmospheric production in each track on the album. That doesn’t mean they aren’t willing to explore or experiment. From the house/dance-inflected “8th Deadly Sin” to the rock-laced “Hurricane” to the amalgamation of electronic and punk influences that bleeds into “Gango”, Tripla remains rooted in familiar sounds without remaining stuck in the past.
Thematically, Tripla similarly stays true to the core of shoegaze by tackling the melancholy and difficult, but brings new societal issues and personal reflections to the table. Throughout the album, they address, amongst other things, personal experiences with depression and anxiety (“In The dark/ I lie/Awake/Reach for hope/And dreams/My head/Is dread/My heart/Is doubt”), rising online misogyny (“He thinks he’s got attitude/Coolest guy in town/Brags his macho platitudes/Throws his weight around”), death and loss (“Love can never pass me by/I feel it all the time/Once you get a taste for it/you need it to survive/and I can feel the pang of joy/whenever I recall your voice/You are as real to me as when you were alive”), rampant disrepect of the environment and vapid materialism (“Deadly Sin, Number 8/ Honey Bee’s dying out/Beatles too, twist and shout/ Plastic seas, plastic lives/Plastic trees, plastic wives/ Plastic lies”), and frustration with a world that forever stagnates as it changes (“Different times no more danger/You tell me the world is changing/I see history repeat itself/Same old story – just different lies”). The Miki Berenyi Trio brings to this record lamentations for things lost, personal woes, fears, and longings, and critiques of a world-changing (or perhaps staying the same), in many ways, for the worse. That said, Tripla never fully succumbs to the bitterness, grief, and anger it deals with; even when broaching its darkest themes, the uplifting, dreamy melodies keep you floating too high above the ground to sink completely into the dark.
Through Tripla, the Miki Berenyi Trio takes listeners on an ethereal 40-minute journey. They embrace the defining parts of the past that made them while taking on new sonic directions and reflecting on, critiquing, and grieving new and old personal and global issues.
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