Not A Part So Far Entwined

Festival season is upon us. Plans for a pilgrimage to the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury may have been scuppered once again, but rest assured I will be wreckin' it at as many Irish festivals as the piggybank will permit.

Headliners are all well and good (I'm looking forward to ticking Vampire Weekend, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Knife and Bjork off my musical bucket list) but it can be more fun to try figure out which acts further down the line-up can't afford to be missed.

Someone I'll certainly be chasing down at Electric Picnic this year is Scottish three-piece CHVRCHES. Although the band appeared on a slew of tastemakers' 'big for 2013' lists last year, it's only in the past few weeks that I've fully succumbed to their charms.

The 80's synthpop swagger of current single 'Gun', anchored by Lauren Mayberry's irresistible vocal, is easily the best song I've heard about homicidal arms-based revenge. Meanwhile, their pacey reworking of MS MR's already pretty excellent 'Hurricane' is, for now at least, the definitive version.

Didn't Know Getting Lost In The Blue

MS MR's 'Hurricane' already had a pretty great video, condensing the 'essence' of Tumblr into just under four minutes. That was, however, when they were being super secretive about their identities.

They have have since revealed themselves as New Yorkers Lizzy Plapinger and Max Hershenow and to be in possession of faces. Accordingly, they have made a new video that features said faces smeared with lurid bodypaint.

Combining a bubblegum palette with murky happenings, the clip is a welcome reminder of MS MR's knack for grade-A gloom-pop ahead of the release of their album 'Secondhand Rapture' next month. Kind of hoping they're going to turn up one of the Irish festival line-ups one of these days...

Welcome To The Inner Workings Of My Mind

One of the last posts I managed before my mysterious absence (Recuperation after suffering a porcupine to the heart. Probably) was about Ms Mr.

'Bones' remains an absolute favourite of mine, but it's their latest release 'Hurricane' which is really doing the business for them, even leading to a feature in the Guardian's New Band of the Day.

The mysterious pair still haven't 'revealed' their 'identities' and, if you ask me, that's a pretty risky strategy. I mean it didn't exactly pay dividends for iamamiwhoami or Monarchy.

In any case, with a major label deal behind them, it probably won't be too long until we see what exactly Ms and Mr look like.

What a fucking tune.

Kissing Death And Losing My Breath

Back from the dead like some zeitgeist-chasing zombie, I'm gonna try and start blowing bubbles again (as opposed to blowing Bubbles).

First on my hitlist is mysterious New York duo Ms Mr, whose Ghost City USA EP I've revisited quite a few times the past few months. Teaming synths, haunting female vocals and a taste for the macabre, it's hardly shocking that I've taken an interest.

More after the jump...