Here at the Send Me Your Ears studio today, we’ve been listening to Mishkin Fitzgerald & The Chemical Perils’ latest single, Legs Broken, released on December 16, 2022.
Speaking about the new single, Mishkin says; “I always find that writing about revenge is the most fun – you can channel all your negative emotions and turn them into something that is cathartic. Legs Broken is a revenge song and a gentle reminder never to p*ss off a songwriter.
Starting with some interesting vinyl static sounds and bell-like pads, we were fooled for a second into what style of song this was going to be. But then… the band arrive in your ears and leap straight into a full-blown gypsy jazz/ Klezmer song.
The vocals in Legs Broken are passionate in their delivery. They are angst-laden and focused on getting their message across in earnest. The first voice you here is Miskin’s. She has a strong head voice and a delivery reminiscent of Toyah’s body of work from the 80s. A male vocalist takes the lead later in the song: his voice, too, is passionate and earnest and we love how you can hear him taking deep sighing breaths between lines. You can really hear that both singers are putting their all into it. Later in the song, they sing in unison, and we love the chorus towards the end with the female vocal taking the lead and the male vocal as a spoken word underneath her melody. We absolutely loved the video that accompanies this song: the two singers fighting for control of the mic was great fun to watch.
We can only imagine how much fun this band would be to see live, and would strongly urge anyone on the Brighton scene to check these guys out. We’re big fans of Devil Makes Three, and we can see some influence there, but they also reminded us a little of South West England band, 3 Daft Monkeys.
The band have all the authentic elements of a great gypsy jazz band: double bass, accordion, violin, but they bring to it a real ‘punk’ attitude as well, which gives them a great edge.
Closing the song with a stinger ending and a lyric that made us laugh out loud; “The only thing your heart needs is a stake”, Legs Broken is a phenomenal revenge song and one which we imagine negated the need for any kind of therapy in the writer!
Ideas from our ears
A hi-pass filter at 35Hz and a cut at 75Hz would remove some sub-bass rumble and also reduce a slight peak in the double bass track. A small boost around 200Hz would thicken up the low end a bit too. A cut around 600-650Hz would reduce some occasional slightly ‘honky’ tones in the vocal tracks. A boost across the top 2 octaves centred around 10kHz would increase the brightness and clarity in the track. As always, these are just some ideas from our ears.
Final thoughts
If you like your punk a little bit Klezmer, or your Country a little bit Balkan, then you absolutely HAVE to listen to Mishkin Fitzgerald & The Chemical Perils’ latest single, Legs Broken. A fun and exhilarating romp!