Mission of Burma: The Sound, The Speed, The Light

I once had a fine agree-to-disagree argument with an acquaintance about Mission of Burma’s contributions to the “importance” of the “independent underground”.  He told me he felt they were nothing special; that it was all kind of boring hype.  I told him I felt the same about My Bloody Valentine.  My argument was yes, Burma was/are nothing special, but they’re smart and honest.  Any idiot can stomp on a fuzz box for emphasis.  Mission of Burma is not that type of band, and it’s obvious on The Sound, The Speed, The Light that they are four smart individuals bringing four thought-out opinions to rehearsals.  Songs are at times catchy, at times beautifully awkward and obnoxious, at times cause the listener to dance around pumping their fist high and sing-along rock songs.

The first three songs on the Sound showcase this argument, the highlight being the opening track “1, 2, 3, Partyy!”, sung by Clint Conley.  He is adept at penning up thumpers that really get the toe tapping and the adrenalin shaking the hell out of itself.  “Partyy!”, “Possession”, and “Blunder” all bulldoze nicely into the calming, introspective “Forget Yourself”.  Like 1982’s “Trem Two” before it, “Forget Yourself” is one of the reasons it’s so easy to defend Burma in a music taste/opinion argument.  The mellow yet awkward melody of the song makes a nice blanket of sound for the mantra-like lyrics. We’re all worked up, very stressed for many reasons. All of us still alive who were born after 1918, essentially.  Sometimes we need to take a deep breath, look all around us and CALM THE FUCK DOWN.  It’s also obvious on this song that no one in the “post-punk” era has even come close to harmonizing so individually together like Lennon/McCartney the way Roger Miller and Clint Conley have done so well.  The following song “After the Rain” is a nice compliment.  “One Day We Will Live There” begins the second half of The Sound as a welcome and surprising departure from Peter Prescott’s usually pent-up, can’t-take-it-no-more, angsty vocal delivery.  It’s a slight ballad that even the geekiest of Volcano Suns fans wouldn’t have seen coming but would definitely find themselves enjoying.  The album rounds out with some fierce thumpers in “Good Cheer” and “Comes Undone” before jamming on the introspect again with “Slow Faucet”.  When Mission of Burma gets going like this, it’s an amazing mix of all their influences like The Beatles, Husker Du, early pink Floyd and the Stooges.

What I’ve always admired about Mission of Burma is that they seem to have the attitude that things can always improve.  You can always learn more, can constantly fuck up well into the twilight of yr life and never be “happy”.  This theme is relevant in their sixth album The Sound, the Speed, the Light and with the aptly titled song “So Fuck It”.  Writing this review and my argument with my buddy, I realized I may have a slight bias when it comes to Mission of Burma.  It just seems that when most folk hit a certain age they shut down and wait.  Somewhere, someone said “adult” and people got in line.  The three (and a mysterious fourth!) gents in Mission of Burma are obviously matured humans, yet still make better music than most kids under the age of thirty these days because they know they still have so much more to figure out.  The music they have made together for the better part of the last three decades is a venting and a testament to the mapping out of all of that.