Mika Songs For Sorrow Review
New EP Featuring Lonely Alcoholic, Lady Jane, Blue Eyes & Toy Boy
May 26, 2009
It’s been three years since the flamboyant and cartoonish Mika splashed onto the pop scene. Right out of the box his first single “Grace Kelly” shot to the top of the pops in the UK and most of the rest of the world.
Soon, Q Awards, Brit Awards and various other prizes and trophies from all over the world adorned his mantle. Mika quickly became the breakout artist of 2006/2007 while his first full length album Life in Cartoon Motion splattered the charts with hits such as the Grammy-nominated “Love Today”, plus UK hits “Big Girls”, “Relax, Take It Easy” and “Lollipop”.
EP Preludes New Mika Album
While the world awaits a proper follow-up, reportedly due for 2009, Mika delivers a four-track EP entitled Songs For Sorrow. Inspired by “dark fairy tales” the new songs show signs of growing up for the artist who used an array of child-like illusions on his debut to support the songs.
Two editions of the EP are available. The digital edition, available from his official website, which includes the tracks "Lonely Alcoholic", "Lady Jane" and "Blue Eyes" and a physical edition featuring an additional track, "Toy Boy".
Songs For Sorrow EP
Whereas the bulk of the music on his debut album, Life in Cartoon Motion, was playful pop, blissful and buoyant, the new songs show the deeper side to Mika.
"Blue Eyes" has hints of Caribbean shaker drums and repetitive guitar. This track is also appears on his upcoming full length album The Boy Who Knew Too Much. “Lady Jane”, a darker piano-driven ballad tells the tale of a woman who cuts off her feet to become a fish after her man falls in a river. “Lonely Alcoholic”, another piano track, tackles the theme of a bottle hitting stressed out single mother.
While the subjects of these tracks don’t necessarily scream pop music, they show a clear maturity in Mika’s song writing and, by toning down the oft-overbearing falsetto, his singing as well. These songs may not go down in history as Mika’s greatest hits but they offer enough to tide fans over until he releases his second album later in 2009.
Songs For Sorrow + Deluxe 68-Page Book
In addition to the extra song on the physical edition, the limited edition CD includes a "super high quality deluxe 68 page book and specially commissioned artwork from some of Mika's favourite artists," according to his website. The digital EP comes with a downloadable PDF file of the illustrations.
Contributing artists include Peter Blake, Paul Smith, Es Devlin, Jim Woodring, Sophie Blackall, Jim Medway, Tao Nyeu, Richard Hogg, Huck Scarry and Walter Van Beirendonck.
In a statement, Mika said "The idea for the book then came from the lyrics to these songs, which are like dark fairy tales, and I thought it would be brilliant to get illustrations to go with them and to get some of my favorite artists to give their own interpretation on the stories”.
Mika’s Songs For Sorrow EP is available now for download from his official website. The physical release of the EP is slated for June 8.
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