<p>- Mess Esque is the brand new project from songwriters <strong>Helen</strong> <strong>Franzmann</strong> (<strong>McKisko</strong>) and <strong>Mick Turner </strong>(<strong>Dirty Three</strong>). In the face of past prolificacy and melancholic mastery, their debut <em>Dream #12 </em>is buoyant - simultaneously a peek inward and a bold stride outward.</p>
<p>The two Australian musicians share a friendship and mutual appreciation for their respective craft. The chemistry between the pair is charismatic and charming and after hearing the lead single <em>Big Old Blue</em> the feeling instilled was that of a genuine personal interaction or the forming of a bond, the music itself a new friend. Although typified best by the track foremost within sequencing, the impression is as contagious as it is constant and the whole release boasts both familiarity and an enduring playfulness.</p>
<p>A languor envelopes <em>Dream #12</em>. Whether in relation to all five or in particular the fourth and titular song, a viscous rhythm powers and propels the many movements contained within. At once adhering and contributing to an atmosphere of relaxed rebellion, questions posed in the aforementioned song “<em>Why should I rush, why should I want?</em>” strike uncannily close chords to the experienced adolescent moments of <em>In Rainbows</em><strong>. </strong>A seemingly coincidental connection, there’s no denying the spiritual similarity to <strong>Radiohead</strong>’s <em>Reckoner </em>or the kindred and latent lyrical content in <em>Weird Fishes / Arpeggi. </em>At the risk of creating a conspiracy, hone in on the ninety-second mark of the latter: it’s suddenly hard to be convinced otherwise. To dispel this -and to be sure- the duo’s distinctively fluid and sketchlike creations are in a dimension entirely their own.</p>
<p>As seasonal as <em>Listen the Snow Is Falling </em>seems, firstly on <strong>Yoko Ono</strong>’s 1969 release and subsequently in other memorable renditions, it has never quite been associated with nor has it instilled the feeling of a subtropical sunshower in Spring. <strong>Galaxie 500 </strong>gave it a go and if the original resembled a smouldering fireplace then the result on their rather ironically named third and final album <em>This Is Our Music</em> was a roaring bonfire. Mess Esque’s take on the unsung classic is indeed warm but think less flames and more sunset.</p>
<p>Warmth is not the sole, standout sensation felt throughout <em>Dream #12</em>. By what seems like a process of songwriting somnambulism the entire thirty-four-minute duration of the album suspends the listener somewhere between an awakened and dreamlike state and it’s as though even the suspected candlelight by which Helen recorded her words and voice has been captured. In a candid recollection she wrote “My house is close to a noisy road so recording had to happen at two AM to catch vocals without traffic/street spill... I’d record, send and fall into bed without doing a whole lot of listening back.”</p>
<p>Turner & Franzmann are visionaries - their music guides through deep reflection and internal worlds. The tense and dizzy, disorienting quality of closing track <em>False Mirror </em>is perhaps the exact crossover and combining of both artist’s sensibilities. It achieves a perfect balance, equal parts allusion to shadows within as illusions beyond. </p>
<p>Predisposition aside <em>Dream #12</em> charts entirely new territory. In tandem they produce a debut unafraid of the dark, of uplifting and hopeful experimentation.</p>
<p>- Chris Preindl.</p>
<iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=905299324/size=large/bgcol=ff…; seamless><a href="https://mckisko.bandcamp.com/album/dream-12">Dream #12 by Mess Esque, Mick Turner, McKisko</a></iframe>