Last year, Michigan quintet Mason Proper gave an impressive accounting of themselves on their full length debut, There Is a Moth in Your Chest. Walking the tremulous line between indie rock’s edgy future and pop’s classic past, Mason Proper channeled the bittersweet surge of the Shins and Jellyfish with the shuffling muscle of the Police into a synth-driven powerhouse pop set. As an appetizer for the band’s hotly anticipated sophomore album comes the brief but potent four-song Shorthand EP, a fabulous teaser for the full length to come. All of the gifts that MP displayed on Moth are honed to an even sharper edge on Shorthand, as the band continues to mold their fascinating sonic profile, from the Semisonic-vs.-the Raconteurs tension of “Rest Up” to the Andy Sturmer-fronts-the Romantics bop of “Bone Men” to the pleasantly disorienting Jellyfish garage pop of “Friendship” to the spacey dissonance of “Traveling Men.” The eclectic range and ragged sophistication of Moth are still clearly evident on Shorthand as Mason Proper are quickly proving to be pop/rock masters of primitive sophistication.
--Brian Baker [May 5, 2008]
