Local genre-pioneering trio Me And The Grownups continue to lead their life in fast-forward, releasing their second album in as many years together.

With Knowing Lovers, Naïve Lovers, singer/songwriter Anita Lester, multi-string instrumentalist and composer Jonathan Dreyfus and guitarist-cum-one man rhythm section Adrian Sergovitch continue the with the gorgeously clean, rich and often minimalist tone set by their debut Battling The Mountains, The Sky And The Sea.

Knowing Lovers is a much more focussed effort than its predecessor, however, with the lengthy instrumental interludes that gave the debut a somewhat cinematic quality making way for a more focussed collection of tracks (which are often more like poems set to music than songs per se) with vulnerable, hopeful and wounded hearts at their core.

It’s their emotive synergy that makes this trio such a delight to listen to… Once again the lyrics and music combine into a stream-of-consciousness flow that is abetted by the refreshing absence of bass or drums. This time the group seem much more comfortable in their minimalism, with Dreyfus in particular relying more on finely-drawn expression in his playing than artificial (yet novel) effects. The tragi-comic air of Beautiful Losers is nicely accentuated by Dreyfus and Sergovitch’s clipped, staccato feel, while the churning, frenetic arrangements of I Shadowed Him So Ghostly cleave perfectly to its conflicted lyrical monologue

This is much more a showcase for Lester’s talents than the previous album, with the young singer’s resonant voice growing in both range and expression. Her lyrical prose is alternately raw and enigmatic, and always rich in evocative visualizations. It is, perhaps, exactly how you would expect a long-time graphic artist to write songs; Knowing Lovers offers a glimpse of Lester’s other talent with an accompanying booklet of artwork that, when examined alongside the music, enables one to experience the album as collage.

MATG show another entirely new string to their bow with the pure a’capella opening of Sail At Dawn, the crystal-clear and full-sounding harmonies inviting the listener in with an expectation of emotional authenticity that is readily and consistently met.

While I must admit I miss the ambitiousness of the instrumental pieces found on Battling The Mountains, the group’s expressive eloquence shines no less with these mature and thematically coherent songs. In this way, Me And The Grownups’ originality is made accessible enough to take a firm foothold in the local scene… and hopefully further.

 

JESSE SHROCK
Beat