ME REX - Triceratops / Stegosaurus

Big Scary Monsters

£16.18

CATALOGUE NO.: BSM285V
FORMAT - 12"
RELEASE DATE: 27th Nov 2020
Genres - Lo-fi

Track Listing
1. Stellar Abattoir
2. Heart of Garbage
3. True North
4. Rites
5. Tannika Pacts
6. Swingset
7. Sinkhole
8. Blooded Stud

Sometimes taking a break is the only way to reignite a passion. Unable to keep away from music, South London’s ME REX began life in 2018 in the home of songwriter Myles McCabe experimenting with shouty, electronic bedroom pop. Touring the culmination of six EPs across the UK and Europe - in 2020 the band have securely found their feet. Joined by Phoebe Cross (Happy Accidents/Cheerbleederz), Rich Mandell (Happy Accidents) and Kathryn Woods (Fresh/Cheerbleederz), ME REX feels more like a collective idea rather than following an established formula: taking inspiration from the instantly definable electronics and acoustics of WHY?, the rhythms of Joanna Newsom and lyrical prowess of Los Campesinos. The result is a collection of songs that is coloured in shades of melancholy and happiness in equal parts. Armed with delicate threads of vocal layering on their ‘Woolly Mammoth’ EP that convey feelings of calm while constructing luscious swathes of reverberated guitar and keys on single ‘Rites’; the bands approach to their songwriting craft is intelligently articulated to produce a sound that reads as a mixture of ideas rather than the archaic single and album structures. Having immersed himself in music from a young age, McCabe saw early success with previous bands but quickly found a disillusionment with the music industry, frustrated by the idea of being in a band while personally battling an addiction to alcohol and mental health issues. “I reached kind of a critical point with my mental health around the time I got sober and in the following months. I wasn’t really able to write or make music. I became quite disillusioned with the idea of being in a band and making music within the music industry and in 2012 the band gradually fell apart.” Says McCabe. “After a couple of years I decided I wanted to work as a solo act, there were a lot of advantages to this, logistically and interpersonally things were a lot easier. I found it much easier to tour alone and enjoyed the autonomy, I began touring around the UK and Europe. In 2017 I joined Fresh and began to see that it actually was possible to organise practice, writing and touring in a way that wasn’t soul destroying.” Now, graduated from producing songs at home to recording their upcoming ‘Stegosaurus’ and ‘Triceratops’ EPs at Resident Studios in North London with Rich Mandell behind the mixing desk; ME REX has spent the past few months exploring their musical concepts - shaping material that touches on themes of friendship, forgiveness, joy, dinosaurs and mental health wrapped in sombre melodies that could easily find a home on the big screen as they do behind closed doors. poignant yet beautiful all at once.