The longer Mixtapes has been around, the more I appreciate them. The group has an innate ability to write pop songs that rock. The harmonies on Ordinary Silence can certainly be sugary-sweet, but offset by lyrics like those in album-opener “Bad Parts,” when Maura Weaver sings “I want to break their fucking heads.” It’s a band that traffics in contrasts.
Just for example, Ryan Rockwell‘s vocals get a little nasal, but they counter Weaver’s nicely on the dual harmonies, smoothing out as they do her voice, which cuts like a clarion. Both singers, however, manage to sing softly and sweetly on acoustic tracks such as “gravel (interlude).”
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