Micko & The Mellotronics – The Trinity

Micko Westmoreland and his trusty band of Mellotronics release The Trinity today, Friday 12th June. The album follows ½ Dove ½ Pigeon (2020) and Le Vice Anglais (2023) and while Micko strenuously denies that the three form a triptych, there is a thematic link through the pieces in Micko’s refusal to pigeonhole himself or bend to fad or musical fashion. With a raft of singles already released from this work, it’s maybe not necessary to review The Trinity track by track but instead look at Micko‘s expression of the art of songcraft itself. The Trinity finds Micko in contemplative but not maudlin lyrical form as he ranges freely between reflections on the furtive adventures of his youth and more philosophical musings on the life artistic. Most of all, however, he’s still the engaged keen observer of life with a sharp eye on the vagaries of the human condition. Micko has dug deeply into his dark places, trying to perhaps recover some of the light and innocence of his childhood from the shadows of his tribulations. Personal – yes, but there’s a simultaneous universality to his observations. All of adult life is here in its sticky, disreputable glory, playing out threepenny operas in secluded car parks, hospital beds, death cells, jobcentres and broken homes. Micko puts everything under his microscope and records his forensic conclusions without judgement or hyperbole.

Binding in that lyrical athleticism is the music. Taut and angular for the most part, Micko‘s sparky guitar-led alt-pop post-punk new wave speaks directly to the feet. In the Mellotronics he has established a super-tight and muscular unit that deliver his soundscapes in short, sharp bursts. The guitars are razor-sharp, the rhythm section of Budge Magraw and Jan Noble (both Ex-Cesarians) is as tight as can be, combining to create a thoroughly modern and plangent soundscape. The central core is augmented with contributions from Paul Cuddeford (Boomtown Rats) on lead guitar/E bow and Terry Edwards (PJ Harvey) who conjures up the affecting outro to the album closer ‘Mystery of the Night’. The exception this methodology is the gorgeous ‘Now I’m Dead’ which is set to a dreamy and unsettling string arrangement by Arnulf Lindner (Ed Harcourt/Richard Ashcroft). 

We’re drowning in wistful singer-songwriters at the moment and while collaborations with Goth megastars or having celebrity parents will take you so far, it’s the quality of the songwriting that will be their short-lived legacy and I suspect – in fact, I know – that these interchangeable pouting poppets and lightly-bearded strummers will fade like summer mist and be gone. Not Micko Westmoreland. He’s standing on the shoulders of the great English observational songwriters. It’s no overstatement to speak of his work in the same breath as McCartney or Ray Davies, or more recently, the pointed social observation of Jarvis Cocker or Andy Partridge. It’s fine, fine company. We can only hope that he achieves the recognition he deserves.

We heartily recommend this and all of Micko’s work as it’s not only first class but an important antidote to the shallow shimmer of transient corporate entertainment that passes as the music industry these days.

The Trinity by Micko and the Mellotronics is out on 12th June on Landline Records.