Important Records
Mi and L'Au : If Beauty Is A Crime (FI/F,2012)****
Mi and L’Au changed the way of arranging their songs, not so much their way of creating songs, their voices or the acoustic feeling in them. However they completely arranged their songs with use of synthesizers, computers and drum machine. The effect gives more loneliness to it. They succeed to keep a certain spatial feeling of loneliness with it, not with a too straight and strict keyboard sound, although it is easy with these instruments to be reminded of some items from the late 80s, early nineties. What caused and sourced this inspiration is the movies the duo shared in memory since their childhood with scores that were arranged by the French composer François de Roubaix. Also this composer succeeded in combining the effect of synthesizers and drum machines into folk associations. Digging deeper into his music changed the shape of its own inspirations. There are neo-classical inspirations, small electro-pop associations with more ambient, moody and spatial effects, lonely Gothic elements, string, double bass and cello imitations and nice chosen sounds of synthesizers with their own character, with wah-wah or some other colourful inner shape, some toy piano and piano. With a deep breathy voice these songs become lonelier in its new musical environment. The dual vocal arrangements share some warmth but the surrounding space is colder, even though it gives similarly much of peace and quietness, with improvisational room for instrumentals. A nice, successful change. (Most songs are in English, just one song is in Finnish).
