Album of the Week: Two Star & the Dream Police by Mk.Gee
Featuring (in order of appearance): Michael Gordon
Track Number: 12
Length: 33 mins
Released: feb 9, 2024
Genres: Experimental R&B, Bedroom Pop, lo-if indie
Highlights: Candy, breakfromthespell, little bit more
Rating: 10/10
“Two Star & the Dream Police,” the breakout album from 28-year-old musician and music producer Michael Todd Gordon, better known as his stage name “Mk.Gee,” is a dark, warped production of intricately mixed indie pop pulling influences from sounds that near the realm of recognizable while still eluding your grasp. While being far from his first effort to break into the indie music scene, “Two Star” is an explosion of a sound that has hidden beneath the waves of Gordon’s previous works, stretching across a range of genres from his lo-fi bedroom pop roots, ambient space and his experimental interpretation of R&B previously seen in his collaborations with fellow indie pioneer Dijon Duenas. Two Star is a defining album in his catalogue and as well as for the music scene in which it is igniting.
In an unassuming 33-minute runtime spanning 12 tracks, “Two Star & the Dream Police” is able to establish itself as a defining album of the year. Beginning with the cutting, percussive track “New Low,” the album establishes an abrasive edge before flowing into more melodic tracks, with a personal favorite of mine, “How many miles,” and then the albums lead single “Are You Looking Up,” a melodic, synth pop infused ballad that sounds like the soundtrack for an 80’s romantic comedy played underwater. Tracks like the guitar led power ballad “Candy” and the album’s driving climax “Alesis” stand out as the punch through the layered mixing. Tracks like the moody, lush “You Got It” and the wind down track “Breakthespell,” reminiscent of an 80’s prom slow dance, serve as the album’s emotional core and the strength behind the loose concepts of broken and unrequited love creating a narrow interpretive picture of fractured memories of Two Star, the main character of the album.
As is common in early pieces of an artist’s work, Two Star & the Dream Police begs the question, “where can this go?” While the album delves into the sum of its experimentation, a door has been opened to even more potential. As far as my love for Two Star extends, at only 33 mins, there’s much more concept left to explore, and much more of a story left to tell. Gordon is still holding back, as is evident in his live performances, which I have attended, the guttural passion he displays on stage isn’t exactly translated to this studio effort, a difficult feat of course, but nevertheless, I’m still left with wanting more, and to me, that is the best criticism to be able to make.
