Mega Low's "Reminders" is a dizzy, art rockish elevated ride

AP Track Review

People listen, react to music in different ways. For me, I emotionally engage with music in two basic ways. Type 1: Melodies, lyrics and music touch me in personal ways. Taps into my psyche pushing emotional buttons. Type 2: I react to the cool vibe, the artifice, the art itself of a song and I see, I literally see, imagery and even more so, stories as fiction (as opposed to the personal connections) form in my mind. Type 1 feels more real and organic and Type 2 feels more surreal. When I listened to Mega Low's entrancing "Reminders" it was all Type 2 and in a big, beautiful way. The sort of chamber pop rock track feels almost rock operatic. The electric piano edge with pop cultural references and twisted poetry "she's leaking acid like a battery" as sung by singer-songwriter, guitarist Spencer Askin at once makes your mind spin (figuring out the puzzle piece lyrics) and flushing out the characters you feel in the song itself. There is a truly art rock feel here especially expressed in the stirring lead guitar break that is epic and grand spun out in a 70's chamber rock motif way like (for example) Elton John's Funeral For A Friend. In the end, Reminders is a dizzy and elevated ride with the dirty piano, art rock guitars, passioned vox,  unadulterated poetic lyrics of a spiral downward told with a sort of glam rock underbelly. It is so artsy and rockish that I thought of 70's bands like Be Bop Deluxe and Sweet and 90's outfits like Spacehog and Harvey Danger. Listen to Mega Low and create your own pictures in your mind.

Side Notes: Please listen to the song before you view the official video- The video is cool, don't get me wrong, but not as grand as the song itself.

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Robb Curtius 










THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM - PRESS NOTES:

The members of the indie rock band Mega Low are living a Cinderella story. Dennis Rodman made a cameo at a gig and led the band through an impromptu set of Sublime covers. They have played star-studded parties and packed live-performance residencies peopled by A-list and B-list celebrities such as Shaun White, Serena Williams, and Miley Cyrus.

However, when the clock strikes midnight, everything changes. The quartet goes from these surreal gig experiences playing 1990s covers as the band SEGA Genecide to the reality of being Mega Low (think Superdrag), a hardworking original band with sharp pop instincts and 90s alt and indie rock flair. You could say their “day job” as SEGA Genecide funds the passion project Mega Low.

“One night we played a 1980s versus 1990s show hosted by a seemingly depressed Biz Markie. The capacity of the club was 2,100 and it was packed. We were double booked that night, and when we loaded in for our later performance, the venue was empty and there was a dude being loaded into an ambulance. It was like ‘back to reality,’” shares Mega Low’s singer, guitarist, and primary songwriter Spencer Askin with a good-natured laugh.

In addition to Askin, the Costa Mesa, California-based quartet features Trevin Eck on bass, Spencer Wiles on keys and sax, and Stefan Macarewich on drums and vocals. The four-piece band has been described as “if Wings was playing a Tame Impala song to Billy Joel wearing a Big Thief t-shirt.” Askin responds: “We don’t really listen to Tame Impala, but we do love Wings and Billy Joel.”

Mega Low’s upcoming single, Reminders, is an intriguing post-modern pastiche of sounds and styles. It boasts a sly nod to the Beatles’ “A Day In The Life” and groovy 1970s-vibing textures, glitchy Radiohead atmospherics, and a theatrical arrangement. The track will be paired with a video directed by David M. Helman (The Weeknd, Khalid, Glass Animals, Skrillex, and Gucci Mane, among others).

Enhancing Mega Low’s 1990s mojo is its Snoop Dogg connection. The Doggfather is something of a creative and spiritual guide as the guys lease his old studio (replete with a mural of Snoop, Warren G, and Nate Dogg), and feel his presence daily. “We still get his mail, and every once in a while, someone in the studio will open it on accident. People have sent freeze-dried weed, he gets invited to a lot of weddings, and there are rappers writing to him from different correctional facilities. All good things,” Askin says.