A gripping debut album from Mike Medrano, M charts a karmic journey through heartache, misadventures, and emotional reckoning within a range of warming rock and folk pursuits. Recorded on a Tascam 246 tape machine, the album unfolds like a series of watercolor vignettes — rich in imagery and awash in sea and water motifs. A sense of personal navigation emerges, growing from a hazy fog into something clearer on the horizon, just past the tide — with brighter days and warmer waters ahead.
Opening track “Topanga Canyon” melds breezy guitar jangles and vintage-friendly organs, enamoring alongside lyrical pleading to “let the air wash over you,” when feeling blue. “Love is such a pain, but you got to play the game,” Medrano sings amidst twangy guitars and warming organs — admitting “she’s been on my mind,” with an evident yearning; it plays like an apt soundtrack to a road trip, used practically as a way to escape personal tumult.
Ensuing track “Walk Away” brings forth a more prominent twanging amidst similar thematic sentiments of feeling stuck in a rut. “It’s time you walk away,” the vocals beckon to let the past go, bolstered by gorgeous wordless vocal harmonies. Envisioning of coming, better days pair with a throwback rock production for another resonating success, making for a very strong one-two punch in kicking off M. And while the subsequent “Fading Lights” is quainter in its trickling folk-ready guitar work and lyrical introspection, the emotive punch is still lasting. “I know that song plays all day long,” continued representations of lingering emotions show, set within a hypnotic production that resembles a cross between Nick Drake and The Kinks.
Another standout track comes in “But Not Me,” exemplary of Medrano’s knack for climactic, impactful structural momentum. Jangly guitars and subdued vocals lead initially with approachable charm, really taking off upon the beautiful backing vocal harmonies integrating into the “out on the water!” hooky exultation. “Deep Blue Sea” follows, continuing the water-type setting and here within a haunting folk immersion, while “Summer Song” conveys a dream-like state in its lyrical drive and piano-led balladry. M excels across both rousing rock/pop expanses and laid-back folk balladry, and these mid-album tracks play especially well in showcasing that range.
M concludes with two particularly moving successes in “Endless Night” and “Things We Hide.” The former struts a longing for freedom — “I could fly like a bird if I could,” — alongside visions of overgrown trees, metaphorically invoking personal strife. The sturdy guitar twangs develop into fervent guitar work in the second half, expressive in their free-flowing jangles as the lead vocals scale back. Album finale “Things We Hide” stirs in its contemplative haze. “The wind blows you out so far each time,” Medrano sings, then musing on how “getting back,” to the point of origin can be especially trying. Another reference to “the big blue sea,” and “the waterside,” again ushers in the water settings, and a sense of personal renewal that comes alongside. A cathartic thematic success with melodic, charming production, M is a thorough success from Mike Medrano.
