Review: ME REX – Megabear

Style: Experimental indie folk (clean vocals)
Review by: Nick
Country: UK
Release date: 18 June, 2021

Experimental indie folk. I bet that’s a phrase you thought you’d never read on this blog. Honestly it’s not something that I thought I’d ever write on this blog, but here we are.

ME REX is an indie folk group out of the UK who have had a kinda confusing release history so far. From what I gather they’ve had three EPs, an odds and ends compilation, and a compilation of two of their EPs rereleased as one. It’s a pretty non-traditional trajectory for a band to go on over the course of their first couple years, at least compared to what we’re used to on this site.

So you’d think that with their first studio album and first release in two years, they’d be started on a more traditional path, right? Haha, hell no. Megabear is about as bizarre as you can get for a debut full length. Being comprised of 52 short tracks (each in 4/4, 120bpm, and in the key of Bb), the album was designed in such a way that every song flows into each other no matter the order. The band has specifically noted on their Bandcamp that there are 8.06e+67 possible combinations for the album which is…a lot.

It’s a bold experiment. Not the first of its kind for sure, but the first that I’ve seen to be a non-ambient/noise album. To make an ambient album like this is honestly not that hard, but to write 52 pieces of a coherent genre, most of them with lyrics, and to have them be able to flow together seamlessly is a big undertaking. The question at this point isn’t really if they pull it off because doing it in general is pulling it off in a way. The question is about how well they pull it off. And how well do they pull it off? Eeeeeeh.

Each song has pretty similar instrumentation with the introspective lyrics familiar to the genre. Lots of talk about feelings, vague spirituality, and all that jazz that you’d here on your typical indie folk album. There are lush acoustic layers, some pleasant synth work, pretty piano pieces, and a voice that puts emotion before all else. Vocally this honestly sounds as if Scott Hutchison from Frightened Rabbit went a bit more emo. This makes sense considering the singer’s other band is a poppy emo group.

Honestly, Megabear has all of the hallmarks of a good indie folk record, but being cut up and randomly shuffled leads to it feeling sort of all over the place and at some point feels pretty samey. I decided to go along with their challenge of making my own playlist out of the songs, but it got to a point where it was mainly trying to make the tracks just flow coherently. Don’t get me wrong, I had an absolute blast listening through and rearranging each song to be my own unique concoction, but in the end I’m left with a playlist of songs that all feel like previews of much larger, much more epic tracks. It’s a shame because I’ve honestly come to really enjoy the band’s sound.

While I think this is an absolutely amazing work of art and a very impressive achievement, I can’t quite say that it’s a good album. The tracks being intentionally cut snippets makes it feel completely disjointed and incoherent. There’s some gut-wrenching (in a good way) lyricism and an aesthetic that’s honestly jaw dropping, but without the cohesion that’s brought with actual structure it just kinda falls flat. I’d like to see a full album made of these snippets similarly to their lead single “Galena” (linked above) which combines five of the snippets into one song. It’s a noble attempt, but not one that I can say really works out. For sure give their EPs a listen, but as for this album I can’t quite recommend it beyond a cursory listen to experience the concept.

Recommended tracks: Galena (that or shuffle the album!)
Recommended for fans of: Frightened Rabbit, Manchester Orchestra, The Weakerthans. If you don’t know any of those bands, just give it a shot if the concept sounds appealing. It’s worth at least a listen.
Final verdict: 5/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Official Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Metal-Archives page
Label: Big Scary Monsters – Bandcamp | Website | Facebook

ME REX is:
– Myles McCabe (vocals, piano, keyboards, acoustic guitar)
– Kathryn Woods (vocals)
– Phoebe Cross (vocals, drums)
– Rich Mandell (vocals, keyboards, bass)