Love, today

I’ve had more than my fair share of criticism aimed at my love and affection for Beirut-born Mika (nee Michael Holbrook Penniman) and his pure pop confections.  So much so that I’m always a bit hesitant to post about him in these pages for fear of indie-blogdom’s condemnation of backing someone so overtly pop that he might as well have the top 40 tattooed to his back.

But the truth is, for all the Leno show and Jimmy Kimmel appearances, Brit Awards and performance st the Grammys, Mika is not a regular top 40 pop star.   Blame it on his sexual ambiguity and overt campiness, or blame it on a fickle and biased music audience who expect their pop starts to be big busted and bouncy, Mika hasn’t been embraced–in North America at least–the way one would expect from listening to his records.

That’s a shame, because the follow-up to Life In Cartoon Motion (his debut) is one of the most fun albums start to finish I’ve heard this year.   The Boy Who Knew Too Much was originally going to be named for the album’s lead track, “We Are Golden”, but I think the last-minute name change suits this album better.  Mika is the boy who knows too much, and he’s determined to cram all his musical knowledge and influences into the album’s 12 tracks (13 if you count the bonus song available in some areas).  Calypso?  Check.  Dance floor electronica?  Check.  Queen-style epic anthems?  You bet.  Musical theatre homages?  Duh.  He does it all with verve and panache, and a sincerity that never feels forced or kitschy.

Owen “Final Fantasy” Pallett contributes his virtuous violin playing to the record (how’s that for indie cred?), along with chanteuse Imogen Heap.  Mika has described it as part two of the exploration into his early life and adolescent years started on Life In Cartoon Motion.  With this much fodder for fuel, it looks like he’ll be able to keep churning out this semi-autobiographical albums for some time to come.  Lucky us.

MP3: Mika “Rain”
Myspace: Mika

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