Miki Berenyi Trio: Tripla – Review

Released 4 April

Miki, Moose and Oliver rise from the ashes of Piroshka with their long awaited debut album Tripla, a nine song collection of ‘lush’ sound for the modern age. Wayne AF Carey reviews.

Miki Berenyi has been there and done it. From the early days of Lush playing the tiny venues of London, becoming part of the NME set during the 4AD years with her trusty sidekick Moose along for the ride, releasing a fantastic autobiography which is a gripping read (reviewed here), all culminating in MB3 who are a delight to the ears from the offset. It’s a happy sounding album despite the sometimes sad lyrics which all reflect on the traumas of modern life.

8th Deadly Sin is a stunning start with electronica shining through, a funky drumbeat and of course the honey vocals from Miki, before the guitar riff bursts in before the earworm chorus. It’s a funky climate change relating opener. Kinch (translated Treasure from her fathers native Hungarian tongue) is dreampop at it’s finest, touching on the deaths of her father and ex Lush drummer Chris Acland. Four minutes of shimmering beauty that bathes you in light from darkness. Vertigo is a slow starter with a mellow techno beat overlaid with Miki’s signature vocals, a tale of experiencing depression triggered by the menopause. It’s dark yet uplifting with 80’s electronica floating around your head like a warm wave.

Gango kicks in with a moody bassline and floating synths creating the atmospherics and building with subtle guitars and laden strings from Piroshka contributor Fiona Brice. A nice slice of psych pop considering the lyrical theme of misogyny spread on social media. A Different Girl relates to Moose and Miki’s daughter, with Moose hoping she has more opportunities to fulfil her dreams than he had. The vocals are second to none and the sounds created here are sublime before the whole songs bursts into a mellow piece of glittering guitars, drums and bass that hit the heart like an old Lush composition. The Big I Am is the upbeat funky piece again touching on the shiteness of social media spreading misogyny with all the tentacles of a Tate. It has touches of Blondie, Gossip and even The Orielles on this one. A potential song for a dance remix? Oh yes.

Hurricane has an eery electronic start which switches to the funk again with an infectious bassline rolling along with neat guitars and a killer chorus that only Miki can carry off. There’s some great echoing guitar that crashed in occasionally which lights up the whole tune. The dub flecked Manu is the obligatory futuristic shoegaze moment which has a surprising hint of Ian Brown’s best solo moments with Miki on vocals instead of King Monkey. A six minute piece of a dreamlike earworm that reflects on Miki’s freedom to write what she likes without being shackled to a stressful label contract. The sound of future dreampop at it’s height which will thrill LTW favourite Keeley. Closing track Ubique is a cracking dreamlike number with lovely strings from Fiona Brice and clever electronica whipped up in a hazy storm. Miki says: “oversensitivity and solipsism, when everyone thinks anything that happens in the world is a personal attack.” Another stab at the evils of social media, all wrapped in a quilt of sophisticated future shoegaze. MB3 have laid down the gauntlet with this debut, showing there is life in perfect dreampop still to come.

Miki Berenyi Trio live dates:

Friday 4th April – London – Rough Trade East

Saturday 5th April – Liverpool – Rough Trade

Sunday 6th April – Bristol – Rough Trade

Sunday 27th April – Arlon, Belgium – L’Entrepot

Monday 28th April – Colmar, France – Le Grillen

Tuesday 29th April – Paris, France – FGO Barbara

Wednesday 30th April – Lille, France – L’Aeronef

Thursday 1st May – Haarlem, Netherlands – Patronaat

Saturday 3rd May – Liege, Belgium – Reflektor

Friday 9th May – London – Moth Club

Saturday 10th May – Norwich – Voodoo Daddy

Sunday 11th May – Brighton – DUST

Sunday 18th May – Reading – The Facebar

Thursday 2nd May – Cambridge – The Portland Arms

Saturday 24th May – Leeds – Lending Rooms

Saturday 31st May – Edinburgh – Sneaky Petes

Sunday 1st June – Newcastle – The Cluny

Saturday 5 July – Cheshire – Pop at the Lock

Find Miki Berenyi Trio on Bandcamp, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Words by Wayne Carey, Reviews Editor for Louder Than War. His author profile is here