Ii it was easy to transfer sadness, despair, and despondency into music, then everybody would be doing it. You really have to feel it, or you have to be a magnificent fake. But you can always discover a fake. And those who are not, take for example Microphones/Mt. Eerie head Phil Elvrum can really strike a note with their audience, both musically and lyrically. Canada’s Michael Charles Hansford who goes under the artistic name of Molly Drag is definitely someone who can do that. His debut Tethered Rendering that came out last year, gave an indication of what is to be expected, and his second one, Whatever Reason, only proved it.
Hansford doesn’t really try to emulate either Elvrum or anybody else, for that matter. Musically, he is using a wider range than just a strummed acoustic guitar and moves anywhere from the subtle electronic backing, lightly buzzing shoegaze-like guitars, like My Bloody Valentine in their gentler moods to any form of slowcore that suits his lyrics. And those can really be a killer. Not really, but they could really get you down if you just read them or you’re not in an exactly bright mood. How’s this for a taster: “all the things I hate about myself are true/I always push away the ones I love/I don’t deserve forgiveness" (Pitch Black Apathy). You wouldn’t have to go further than that song’s title actually to get an indication what kind of feelings Hansford is trying to express here.
But what Molly Drag does here actually draws you in into his world and all the despair and misery are brought to you on a plate, and you just can’t resist taking it in. A lot of it has to do with the music Hansford creates, but a big part of the charm lies with his hushed, the sometimes almost child-like voice that seems to sweeten all the bitterness of the pills he is serving his listeners. What you end up with is a fragile, beautiful-sounding album that can actually uplift, instead of bringing you down.
