Labels: self released
Review by: Mike Whelan
Reading Michael’s biography, I was more than a little disappointed to discover they didn’t name themselves after me, or indeed, plastic faced disco dancer Michael Jackson, or the even plastic-er faced Hollywood big shot Michael Douglas.
Michael don’t sound like Michael Jackson, they sound more like Sunny Day Real Estate, and they have the good manners to not bother pretending they don’t sound like them, recruiting, as they did, former SDRE producer Greg Williamson to twiddle knobs on this for them. I was never a huge fan of SDRE, and, while I know this excludes my entry from the exclusive school of emo, don’t hit your “back’ button just yet, because I do think this is kind of good, and if you like(d) SDRE, you’ll probably love it too.
Michael also remind me of Mineral, that is, they remind me of the days when emo was Mineral, as opposed to these days when it’s Saves the Day or Hot Rod Circuit. Listening to “The Day After My Confidence’ is a bit like putting on “Endserenading’ and remembering 1998, or whatever year it was. There aren’t many bands who are harking back to those days at the minute, just Michael and Lewis, and for this reason alone, Michael deserve some recognition.
Overall, “The Day After My Confidence’ is a good album. While sometimes the songs might be in danger of becoming a little samey, Michael usually rescue things with tracks like “Token Laureate’ and “An Angel Smiles on Ocean,’ which, despite the oh-so-emo song titles, are really good. It’s certainly a surprise Michael haven’t been picked up by (cough) Deep Elm, given that their sound would fit perfectly with most of their roster, but even without wannabe-big label help this is a fine release.