Mesita – No Worries EP

[Self-released; 2009]

It’s important to recognize that Mesita’s No Worries EP originally began as an attempt at a second album. But due to what can only be assumed to be personal decision on his creative skills during the time of its creation, he instead settled to compile five songs onto an EP. And this detail is served right to us as the first lines of the first song: “This summer’s the big push/I’m giving it all I got/ I don’t know where I’m going/I guess I’ll see you when I get there.” But despite such a sceptical and directionless attitude, the EP turns out to be his most cohesive piece of work to date.

Though ambitious, his debut album, Cherry Blossoms, was marred by inconsistencies. The main problem for me was that he always sounded separated from his music as opposed to being part of it – just another layer on instrumentation at times. On No Worries the problem is gone completely, most likely down to a new air of buoyant confidence that runs as the EP plays. He sounds content with his creation, even when he’s hitting those higher notes on “At A Loss.” The instrumentation sounds better too – more defined and less scattershot while being superbly well nuanced. Take the instant summer hit “Excited For The Future”: at first it sounds like it’s just merely the chorus that constitute the essence of the song but as you go beneath you realise there’s a whole glimmering backdrop behind, pushing the song along. And as you come to love the song more and more you find the little touches like the echoing yelps acting as another incentive to return.

Since “Tent Circles” from Cherry Blossoms hit the internet last year, comparisons to the acoustic side of Animal Collective were served before people had even reached the end of the track. But it’s not like that’s a bad thing and that’s reassuring since the comparison is likely to rear its head again come the hearing of the big and bouncy guitar chords of “Missing Out.” But really the similarity only goes so far – Mesita doesn’t have (nor really need) the scratched and unsystematic sound that Animal Collective had but rather works all the elements of the songs to their best. And for him it works perfectly fine for without their fine production, chances are the tracks here wouldn’t sound as nearly as impressive as they do considering this guy probably still ranks himself as a bedroom artist.

While No Worries contrasts Cherry Blossoms in many ways, thematically it sounds much the same with the idea of escaping being central once more. But rather instead of escaping to nature, this time it sounds like he’s taking his trip into the bigger and realer world – facing (and embracing to an extent) the inevitable fact that we all have to grow up as opposed to trying to hold onto memories of youth. The final song on the EP, “In The City,” says it all really and doesn’t go about complicating it too much: though the new world is hectic and overwhelming, it’s where his future lies. And when the end result is something as fine as this, I’d have to agree.

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