Liquid Mike – Paul Bunyan's Slingshot | Album Review
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SELF-RELEASED
OKAY LISTEN UP AND LET ME TALK ABOUT LIQUID MIKE FOR A MINUTE: This is the cure for the melancholy and culture void of the Bush administration; the angst of the aughts still felt twenty years later. This is music to steal traffic cones to. This is music that will make you feel like you’re free. For the stultifying winter, the dullness of the daily, the anguish of being alive, I prescribe ONE DOSE OF LIQUID MIKE.
Hailing from Marquette, Michigan, Liquid Mike is the quintessential Midwestern (and therefore American) alt-rock outfit. They are sweet and salty, indie rock on 1.5x speed, alternative with a touch of glam rock like the dregs of pop-punk covered in glitter. I first listened to them because my fellow Swim Into the Sound contributor Grace Robins-Somerville cited them as one of her favorite bands she discovered in 2023, and DAMN was she on to something. I listened to this record during the Chicago winter, and if there is one defining characteristic of Chicago, it is GRAYNESS, and the winters are COLD, not even in a cute way! And it is impossible to keep your spirits up during the third straight month of living with 4:30 pm twilights and failing public transit in an intentionally-created spell of mass homelessness thanks to “Governor” Greg Abbott trafficking people across the country to a location with reliably subzero temperatures!
Amidst all this misery, I felt immune to charm. Nothing was beautiful. Everything was filled with filthy slush. I thought it was simply impossible for this dreariness to feel anything but dreary. And then I listened to Paul Bunyan’s Slingshot, and this music fixed me! Aggressively upbeat alternative indie rock from Marquette, Michigan really was the only thing to distract me from my own sadness! With their remarkable aesthetic cohesion, endearing Midwesternisms, and jangly power pop energy, Paul Bunyan’s Slingshot feels like a journey through the minds and hearts of Middle America, in the best way possible.
The first notes of the album shoot like an adrenaline injection. “Drinking and Driving” carries that rare upbeat euphoria that only the most exquisite specimens of hardcore rock have elicited in me (see: “Gravity” by Turnstile and “Do It Faster” by Militarie Gun). Muddy treble and crunchy percussion combine to create this marvelous, powerful sound that is truly irresistible. It feels like the sonic equivalent of a vodka Red Bull. “Pacer” is another standout track that continues in this trajectory; the song deals with coming to terms with painful relationships and delivers a taste of the painful emotional cocktails that provide a sting with a little bit of sweetness mixed in, ending on a crisp, satisfying lick.
Let me tell you–this record has everything. Hooks that will save your life. The anthemic groove of “K2;” the music shimmers with a summery brilliance, and the lyrics recall adolescent antics and feelings of belonging. You don’t have to smoke synthetic weed, you can just listen to a song about it and get more or less the same effect! There is “/ / /,” a sweet and fresh song that is only 32 seconds. I love it when songs are 32 seconds and also mysteriously titled! Then, on “Mouse Trap,” the band offers commentary on the cornerstone myth of American class mobility. Vocalist and songwriter Mike Maple sings, “Given what you know, the American dream is a Michigan home / You can see it from your window.” So true, Liquid Michael! If the national mythos can be as tangible as to be seen from your window, how can it remain so elusive? How can the happiness and collective prosperity promised to ordinary Americans over and over by our political and financial overlords ever be realized? How can life be so good yet so bad? If all we need is a dog and a house, why are we all so miserable? The album reckons with all this and more before ending on the title track, “Paul Bunyan’s Slingshot,” a thumpy and energetic return to the power rock ethos of their breakthrough 2023 album.
The music feels heavy and warm, like the vests they put on you when you’re getting X-rayed at the dentist’s office. It is comforting yet cathartic, and all these adjectives fail to capture the true guts and glory at the center of this music. Wherever you are, Midwest or not, winter or summer, this record makes you feel closer to home.
Elizabeth is a neuroscience researcher in Chicago. She writes about many things—art, the internet, apocalyptic thought, genetically modified mice—and makes electronic music in her spare time. She is from Northern Nevada.
