"The Strange, Sweet Darkness of Mister Heavenly"
(Artist report)
Written by: Ginny Gaines
Mister Heavenly is one of those bands that is difficult to explain with a single musical label. The group was formed in 2010 by three experienced musicians who were already well known in different corners of the American indie rock world: Ryan Kattner, better known as Honus Honus of Man Man; Nicholas Thorburn, the musician behind Islands and formerly The Unicorns; and Joe Plummer, a drummer whose résumé includes Modest Mouse and The Shins, as well as later work with Cold War Kids. Rather than simply putting together another conventional side project, the three musicians created something deliberately strange. They combined the sweet vocal harmonies and romantic atmosphere of 1950s doo-wop and early rhythm and blues with heavier indie rock, art-punk, garage rock and unusually dark stories. They jokingly described the result as “doom wop,” a term that became closely associated with the band's identity.
The story of Mister Heavenly actually began before the group officially existed. Kattner and Thorburn already knew one another through the interconnected indie-rock scene, and their musical friendship eventually led them to experiment with songwriting together. According to Sub Pop's account of the band's formation, the two recognized that their voices were dramatically different and thought that contrast could become an important part of the music. Thorburn's voice could provide a smoother, more traditionally melodic quality, while Kattner brought a rougher and more aggressive vocal character. Joe Plummer was subsequently brought into the project, giving the group a powerful rhythmic foundation. Interestingly, the musicians initially weren't even certain they were forming a real band. They considered making only a single seven inch record or perhaps a few songs for the internet. But once they started writing, they discovered that they had enough material to build an entire album.
The band's first major release was ** Out of Love **, which came out on Sub Pop Records on August 16, 2011. The album contained 12 songs, including “Bronx Sniper,” “Harm You,” “Pineapple Girl,” “Doom Wop” and “Your Girl.” The musicians wanted the songs to be short, simple and connected in some way to classic doo-wop. They also recorded the album live to tape at Bear Creek Studio in Washington, finishing the recording and mixing process in only 12 days. That quick approach helped give the record an energetic, live feeling.
What made Out of Love interesting was the strange contrast between the music and the stories. The songs could have the sound of innocent old love songs, but the subjects underneath were often much darker. “Pineapple Girl,” for example, was inspired by the unusual correspondence between a young Michigan girl and Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega. Other songs played with ideas about love, heartbreak, obsession and trouble. The band wasn't trying to make depressing music, though. There was a lot of humor involved. Their whole idea was to take familiar sounds and put them together with unexpected subjects, creating songs that were catchy but also a little strange.
After the first album, the members returned to their other musical projects, so Mister Heavenly became more of an occasional band than a full-time operation. Kattner continued his work with Man Man, Thorburn continued with Islands and his other projects, and Plummer remained busy playing with other artists. Eventually, the three musicians found time to get back together and make another record. During this period, they worked in small pieces whenever their schedules allowed. When they finally got back into the studio, they had built up so much energy that they were ready to play the new material hard and fast.
That second album, ** Boxing the Moonlight **, arrived October 6, 2017, through Polyvinyl Record Co. This time, Mister Heavenly sounded tougher and more aggressive. The band still had its strange sense of humor and catchy songwriting, but the music pulled from many more places, including garage rock, psychedelic rock, Krautrock, synth-pop and even sounds influenced by hip-hop production. Songs such as “Beat Down,” “Hammer Drop,” “Dead Duck” and “Crazy Love, Vol. III” showed that the band wasn't interested in repeating the first album. Instead, they wanted each song to have its own personality while still sounding like Mister Heavenly.
Looking at Mister Heavenly's story today, the band remains a fascinating side project built by three experienced musicians who simply wanted to have some fun and make something unusual. Their catalog is relatively small, with Out of Love and Boxing the Moonlight serving as the two main studio albums, but those records gave the group a distinctive place in indie rock history. Their music combines old fashioned harmonies with modern rock, humor with darkness, and simple riffs with wonderfully strange ideas. Mister Heavenly never needed to follow the usual rules of rock music. They took three very different musical personalities, threw them together, and somehow turned that unlikely combination into something catchy, weird and memorable, and that's exactly what makes Mister Heavenly such an interesting band.
That will do it for this report about Mister Heavenly. Thank you for reading and in closing, please know, Soundwave Music Media will be here and we will always do our best to bring you the rock music report. Please consider supporting our Soundwave Foundation with a donation! Rock On! Until next time...🤘
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Written By: Ginny Gaines
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