MISSMATCH Unabashed-Full Legal Download!/Album Review

The girls of MissMatch have very nicely allowed DontStopthePop share the album track "Unabashed". See it as a gift, a treat and its all perfectly legal as the girls have granted us full permission to share this rather poptastic song from their brand new album "Just Push Play" which you can buy/listen to if you click the links below the review. Thanks girls!!! Click here to download "Unabashed".

Album Review

A few years ago a Swedish singer called Robyn altered pop music as we know it. In her “audio communiqué from Konichiwa Records Headquarters” known to others as the introduction to her “Robyn” L.P it was stated she was "a two time recipient of the Nobel prize for Super-Foxiest female EVER, and wartime consigliore to the Costa Nostra.” Well this years Nobel Prize for “best bitchen” pop album of 2007 goes to two girls MissMatch whose “Just Press Play” album takes on the challenge Robyn and raises the standard of what pop music should sound like.

They are MissMatch. You might have recognised MissMatch for they tried to represent Sweden at this years Eurovision but the country voted for a very retrospective band rather than selecting a sound that smelt of nothing but future. After a little chat with the girls they said their greatest influences were “Gwen Stefani, Lenny Kravitz, Prodigy, SugaBabes, The Sounds, Robyn” but take a little listen to the album and you’ll accept that they’ve managed to break barriers of pop music. As such “Just Push Play” is a rare example of a unique and concise pop polemics which reveal a super-strong battery of turbo-powered music.

The journey begins with a prelude that orders the listener to sit back and relax. According to the girls “you will feel 50% happier in just ONE week!” and by track two the smile around your face will be wrapped around the entire room. Your Ipod, cd machine and speakers will be thanking you for playing such brilliant music (trust me on this).

Consisting of uberglam girls Carin Ekroth & Emma Göransson, MissMatch begin their journey into pop by eyeing up everything that went before and stub out the rivals with a wink and a quirky baseline. The keynote song “Breathe In/Breathe Out” recalls the early sunrise over the cliffs of a summery morning with a diet coke in one hand and a fresh bag of fish n chips in the other. The girls state its their next single and you can hear why. If you liked Rachel Steven’s/Alexis Strum’s “Nothing Good About This Goodbye” you’ll find pleasure in the upbeat electro ballad. Except MissMatch update the well-traveled path of softcore electropop by exposing a raw vulnerability in the moment that leaves you unsure whether the singer of the song is upset or glad. The story is complicated, beautiful and unable be resolved with a quick lyric and thus resembles an unusual realistic take on the genre of the ballad.

“Say It Like You Mean It” is a traditional MissMatch song as it brings the beat right to a dancefloor frenzy that Sweden is infamous for. They claim that they are “second to none” and that “you’ll be sleeping in my bed” which makes them sound like the true ladies of girlpower we were once promised by the Spice Girls but all the British band delivered was kitchpop songs dedicated to their mum's and piss poor merchandise. By the time you get to “Whatcha Gonna Do With That Thing” your wet for a bit of sex talk and MissMatch refuse to disappoint. If my English A-level teacher taught me well I’ve learnt to decode lyrics and I've gotta sneakin' feeling the girls have actually composed a song about willies!

When they say “you gotta power that is greater than a gun” and a “friend that will never let you down” you get the feeling that that they singing to the space in-between you legs rather than your face. You know this for sure when the bridge consists of the cute chant “people say that size don’t matter that’s a lie-I know better!” which leads to demand to “follow me as I go down”. The experience is brilliant as its backed-up by a brilliant electro guitar melody so as to construct the entire epic “chat-up/sex-talk” scene in some grungy underground nightclub.

This leads to the song of the album “Unabashed” which the girls have exclusively offered to readers of DontStopthePop! The song is dedicated to the girl who wears lipstick, has far too many men, refuses to grow up and wild hair. The killer line is “I guess you think its hip to be square” which acts as a middle finger to rules and regulations. You know exactly where MissMatch stand with regards to transgression. The pumping baseline forces the location of the battle of this well honed debate of rationality vs passion firmly on the dancefloor. Suddenly “Unabashed” becomes an anthem for people who’ve rebelled against authority, lived for the night, don’t fit in, dream of shimmering worlds of love, sex and desire. They kick the shit out of the argument that these queer members of society are “in a phase” and instead the girls call these people “unabashed”. Personally, I think this is a perfect way to describe population of the insurrection.

Once MissMatch get to song entitled “Let’s Make The Baby” you might think they are sneaking around the bins of Natasha Beddingfields early demo’s for “I Wanna Have Your Babies” but the assumption is severely misplaced. Rather, MissMatch describe the dirty brilliance of the process of procreation rather than giving birth itself. In short it’s an invitation to strip down, spread the legs above your shoulders and lube up. They scream that “there’s a rocket in your pocket, plug it in my socket and give me an electric shock” to leave them “big as a balloon”. Quite!

In conclusion, Just Push Play is one of the dirtiest and funniest albums Sweden has ever offered the pop fan this year. Each song whether its the one’s mentioned above, the Eurovision attempt, their song dedicated to “Sinners”, or their epic dance track “Don’t” which Girls Aloud would love to record, absolutely raises the bar of pop music. In fact the entire album is the L.P any British pop act would die to release. Girls, you have done yourselves proud!

Thanks MissMatch for allowing DontStopthePop to share "Unabashed". Enjoy people of the pop generation!

Buy the album at Cdon
Check their official website where you can hear the album