Micko & The Mellotronics – Misery Guts

Micko & The Mellotronics unfolding contemporary melodrama continues with Misery Guts in which he relates the sorry modern tale of two people bound by a kind of love that compels them to torment each other. Inspired by Tom Baker’s autobiographical musings on the matter, Micko‘s lyrics capture a kind of forlorn paradox – the hurtful sting of the half-compliment, the simmering joy of a well-placed barb. Misery Guts circles around this notion, that it’s much easier to be pissing out of the window of the emotional train than to be running along the platform, trying to piss in: we’re mean to others because it’s much less enervating and difficult than being honest about ourselves. To offset this challenging notion, Micko has deployed his jaunty, angular guitar pop to create a quintessentially English melange of sharp observational lyrics with a toe-tapping but slightly off-kilter killer tune.

Not necessarily easy listening as your head and your feet receive conflicting messages. Already well-received by his live audience, Misery Guts is the second single from next year’s The Trinity album. It would be nice if Micko could be recognised for what he is – one of our smartest yet massively underrated songwriting talents. Don’t let him pass you by.

Misery Guts is out now via Landline Records.