This is it folks, it don’t get much better: the long-awaited debut recording from cherished guitar-poppers Mavo. Led by Osaka-born Mitz Takahashi, Mavo have been active in one way or another for over 5 years, and have only just now made their music available for those living outside the 514.
Mavo’s sound is essentially a college-rock crash course: tenderizing feedback and über-infectious/repetitive bass lines à la Yo La Tengo, cheeky, accented vocals à la Television Personalities and explicit lyrical references to The Velvets and The Fall.
All of this could easily add up to less-than-zero in the hands of hack-amateurs. However, Mavo have an impeccable knack for amateurism, their charms tumble to your ear with great ease and amenity. Nothing here feels poured over and yet each scraggly piece fits perfectly with the next, making Mavo’s maiden voyage an endlessly listenable, thumb-twiddling blend of humble humour and Horatian observation.
(Plus, ten extra masterclass points to Mavo for fitting so many funny, intertwining reference points into eight minutes of music. I can’t even think of how to explain one of them in print without going into a stupid amount of detail and thus destroying any humour therein.)
