Mk.gee Album Reviews

Michael Gordon grew up in New Jersey, where he played in bands but gravitated to making solo music in his bedroom. He grew up in the age of music piracy and was inspired by the eclectic range of music that he downloaded from Pandora, like Sly Stone, Bruce Springsteen, and Jay-Z.

Gordon uses a Fender Jaguar guitar fitted with baritone strings. His early EPs are often funky and derived from yacht rock. His first album, 2024’s excellent Two Star and the Dream Police, reminds me of John Martyn’s work in the late 1970s. Like Martyn, there’s jazzy bass and a wash of nocturnal, electronic sounds behind his guitar. Gordon’s voice is also gentle and a little slurred. His music is deconstructed and surprising, but still accessible.

For me, as time goes on, I don’t want things to sound better. I don’t want it to sound like I’ve been tweaking a bass drum for four weeks. That’s not what music is to me. I want the spirit to get much larger. And the idea is just to become crazier. Because if you have the spirit, then you can pull anything off, and the ideas will get stranger.
Mk.gee, Dazed Digital

Pronounced McGee

Fool

A Museum of Contradiction

Two Star and the Dream Police

Best Mk.gee Songs

Mk.gee Album Reviews

Pronounced McGee

2018, 7/10
Mk.gee’s discography blurs the distinction between albums, EPs, and mixtapes. Mk.Gee’s debut EP is his longest release to date – it’s lengthier than his official debut album. Coming to it backwards from his official albums, it’s surprisingly normal. It’s less fragmented, and there’s a noticeable yacht rock influence. His funk-tinged guitar sounds great over the smooth arrangements.

The textural experimentation of opening track ‘If He’ points the way forward to his later work. ‘I Know How You Get’ has funky guitar and a wobbly intro that recalls Prince’s ‘Let’s Go Crazy’. ‘Priorities’ leans into the yacht-rock sound with a smooth groove and velvety vocal.

It’s impressive that ‘You’ is the best-known song – it’s the most ambitious piece with its phased guitar and stop-start arrangement.

Ever restless, Mk.gee has disowned his early work, but it’s fascinating in its own right.

Fool

2018, 6.5/10
Gordon quickly followed with Fool, his second EP. He released it as he was about to finish three years at University of Southern California’s Thorton School of Music. It also marked the end of a serious relationship.

Not surprisingly, it’s more sombre than Pronounced Mk.gee. Opening track ‘New Year’ is based around acoustic guitar, unusual for Gordon. But ‘Come On (You Know That I’m a Fool)’ reprises the funky sound of his previous record, and it would have been a standout on that disc. Meanwhile, the throbbing, minimalist ‘Brick’ is unique in his catalogue.

Fool feels a little insubstantial, but it’s worth hearing.

A Museum of Contradiction

2020, 8/10
A Museum of Contradiction is billed as a mixtape, but it’s nearly as essential as Mk.gee’s official debut. He employs R&B beats – blending them to his psychedelia creates a unique, exploratory sound. It’s sometimes sleepy, but that means the energetic songs stand out more.

There are two standouts. On ‘Cz’, the propulsive, springy guitar provides energy against the elegant synths, and the restrained funky beat. On ‘Western’, Mk.gee breathlessly navigates a pretty melody.

The restrained ballad of ‘Dimeback’ is another excellent track, while ‘Overtime (Part 1)’ leans furthest into the album’s R&B flavours. A Museum of Contradictions is punctuated by instrumentals and link tracks, but it flows nicely anyway.

If you enjoyed Two Star and the Dream Police, it’s well worth reaching back to A Museum of Contradiction.

Two Star and the Dream Police

2024, 9/10
Mk.gee’s official debut album arrived six years after his first EPs. His music has become more idiosyncratic and fragmented, but that makes it more interesting.

He’s enjoyed a vote of confidence from Eric Clapton. It’s perhaps a kiss of death for an aspiring artist in 2024, but Clapton told Stereogum that Gordon “has found things to do on the guitar that are like nobody else.”

Two Star and the Dream Police was originally much longer, but Mk.gee edited the record down to bare essentials, so that “every song [felt] like a speeding bullet”.

His songs are straightforward but there’s plenty happening with his gently emotional voice and creative guitar lines. His songs are succinct and textural. ‘How Many Miles’ is gentle and yearning, while ‘Are You Looking Up’ is subtly propulsive. He’s writing pretty tunes like ‘Candy’ and ‘Alesis’. ‘Breakthespell’, the only song longer than four minutes, allows more spaces for textural exploration.

Mk.Gee’s ability to create perfectly formed vignettes on his debut album is impressive.