Dead Mellotron: "Nothing I Ever Imagined"

We all like a bit of shoegaze; we all like a night in the mosh pit. Indulge the two at the same time, though, and end up mauve and carsick, your sinal fluid swirling like Australian tap water. Can’t do that featherlite breath thing and break the Van Halen barrier at the same time, not without some kind of asthma attack—or can you? You can if you’re a Dead Mellotron, specially bred to erupt jauntily from a bank of blurred VH1 monitors. According to his Last.fm page, Louisiana’s Frazier Mellotron attributes his “super verbose lo-fi area aesthetics” to an origin in in vitro fertilization and the growing pains with his parents: celebrity geologist versus fallen lesbian. It’s hard to imagine what party time’s like at the family get-togethers, so Dead’s “Nothing I Ever Imagined” from his Ghost Light Constellation EP (help yourselves) is the perfect way to go meet the Fockers. If you can picture Isn’t Anything (1988) redubbed for the super-16 nuts, you’ve broken the back of the plan here: a dirty ambient scorch that chugs like runaway diesel, vocals pushed back to a Grouper-like smear. And what bounces this from the kiddie pool of disposable Loveless wannabes is its out-and-out whiff of mischief—looping and rooted in warped little hanging baskets, each one happily screaming “steal me.” Fuck you, Shields, you cosy old blighter, and everyone who financed your road trip. We made this one from Happy Meal toys for less than the pence in your cup-holder.

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