In the music world, Minneapolis is famous for hard charging, rock and roll powerhouses like The Replacements and Husker Du - two bands that ushered in indie-rock and blew the doors off venues from coast to coast. Mighty Fairly, also from Minneapolis, is nothing like those bands. Preferring harmonious pop to balls-out rock, Mighty Fairly sounds more like a male/female version of Fountains of Wayne. Jumpy melodies and clever lyrics abound while harmonies bounce off the walls. “Wake Up” and “It’s A Shame” are power-pop anthems, while songs such as “Like a Ghost” and “Give Up” slow it down with keyboard-drenched ambience and lazy vocal vibes. The band briefly turns up the electric guitars in “Movin’ On,” but it’s little more than a fleeting reference to their hometown’s punk past. In a perfect world, Mighty Fairly would rise to the level of their fellow Minneapolis heroes and bring their city renown for a different kind of musical mayhem. But being landlocked is no easy situation and, in typically self-deprecating fashion, vocalist/songwriter Mischa Suemnig makes light of it all on “Lackluster,” singing, “I know we aren’t in tune/We do the best we can for you/We just need an east coast tour/They’ll dig us for sure.”
--Frank Valish
Mighty Fairly is a melodic pop foursome from Minneapolis, MN. Their debut release Perfectly Good Airplanes is slowly creeping into the college radio market and garnering the band some notable critical acclaim - and rightfully so. Most tracks burst with bouncy pop energy, splashy boy/girl vocal harmonies and hooks galore. Their musical approach is clean and strummy, yet insatiably upbeat with some of the tastiest bass lines you’ll hear from a modern pop band. Charged by the quirky songwriting talents Mischa Suemnig, the band recorded its debut as a three piece, but has since rounded out their sound with addition of 4th member John Stojevich. Standout tracks like the ultra-hooky “Wake Up” and bouncy pop sing-along “Do You” recall the vibrant sensibility of bands like New Pornographers or Apples in Stereo, while others offer a cleaner and breezier approach with acoustic guitar charging the front of the mix. The band’s crowning achievement is perhaps the stripped down and hypnotic “Give Up,” a simple two-chord song made completely captivating by a haunting vocals line and lilting acoustic guitar flourishes.
~ Jeff Shelton
