They start sending out AARP membership kits younger and younger these days. Snicker-emoji all you want, but it’ll happen to you. “Weight,” the latest offering from Mikal Cronin’s upcoming album MCII (due out May 7 on Merge Records), at once embraces and blasts away from adult burdens. “I’m only gettin’ older,” Cronin acknowledges, amid delicate piano that highlights his concerns, but then the sort of distorted charge that enlivened previous MCII cut “Shout It Out” helps him, if not rage against the dying of the light, then at least pump a fist against it. The swooping melody somewhat randomly recalls Jens Lekman’s gorgeous hairdresser ode “Shirin,” and a similarly plainspoken power-pop palette has been used to lesser ends by more seasoned hands like Ben Kweller. But Cronin isn’t actually aged enough to be worried about all that weight, and here, he shrugs it off wonderfully.
Watch a live version of the same song, find out why Cronin is one our of Best New Artists for March and why he was one of the Best Things We Saw at South By Southwest, and don’t miss Cronin’s earlier interview with SPIN.
