Mess Esque is the musical vision of Dirty Three guitarist Mick Turner & McKisko composer Helen Franzmann. Since forming via a lockdown-confined correspondence in 2020, they have recorded & released two records: Dream #12 (Bedroom Suck) and Mess Esque (Drag City / Milk!). Together they create a curious synthesis of dream pop, psych soul, and ethereal indie rock.
Effortlessly balancing bold emotional immediacy with a quietly assured sense of composure, Mess Esque draw the listener into their compelling world of sideways shadows & nocturnal projections. Franzmann's dream diary reflections & cyclical refrains echo Turner's tapestry of guitar, organs, flutes & scattered percussion. Melodies arch upwards dramatically before dissolving into diaphanous substratums of whispers & sighs. Songs unfold in their own time, drifting outwards before circling back to find themselves where they left off, each time the same but somehow different.
'Mess Esque' the album is an ethereal, gentle delight: yearning brittle and delicate vocals that glide over subtle but barely restrained instrumentation that adds a gold filigree to a barbed wire brush. It has the raw and visceral edge of Velvet Underground mixed with a dream pop blur. What a magical collaboration.
