Megabear by ME REX
by Lana Fleischli
When there is something that is new, different, and unlike anything I’ve ever heard before, I have to write about it. ME REX, an indie rock band from England, has done just that. They created an album that is in fact, new, different, and unlike anything I’ve ever heard (or seen) before.
They created an album called Megabear consisting of 52 songs that came out a few weeks ago. The entire album is just over 30 minutes, making many of the songs incredibly short. Two questions came to my mind initially. Why are the songs so short, and why 52 songs?
Well, the songs are all written so that no matter what order you play it in, it should seamlessly play like one song. I think they achieve this by making the key the same in every song. This idea is so insanely smart and unique. Megabear is an album that is meant to be on shuffle, and it will play as one song no matter the order you listen to it in. You can basically use their music to design your own song. Some of the songs are purely instrumental, and many are full of lyrics. Some sound like verses, or bridges, or chorus. It is up to interpretation by the listener.
The other amazing thing about Megabear is the visual aspect. On their website, they have tarot cards that you can buy, or just use the ones online. The cards explain why the album is 52 songs long, because it is like a deck of cards. Using tarot cards as the outline for the deck makes them different from a regular deck of cards. However, they also aren’t fully tarot cards, since a normal deck has 52 cards, and a tarot deck has more. They are just based on the idea of tarot cards. Each card has the name of one of the songs, so you can play a game with the cards and the music. You can put the cards in any order and see what song it makes. You can also just pick card after card and see what happens. Online, you can scroll through and see what song you’ll get.
Megabear has a theme. The theme seems like fantastical science. The names of the songs consist of elements from the periodic table, planets, constellations and stars, and then fantasy things like dragons and kings (I know kings are real, but I'm speaking in the medieval aspect that is fantasy). Maybe it is because of the use of tarot cards. What I mean by that is that tarot cards often pull from these ideas, like the card called “King of Swords.” They use the somewhat medieval aspect. ME REX appear to have pulled from the idea of tarot cards, and used some of those themes in their music.
Megabear is honestly just such a smart album. I really appreciate the uniqueness of what they have created, and how much time it must have taken to figure out how each song of 52 songs go together no matter how they are placed next to each other. I mean to take ONE song and make sure that 51 other songs sound seamless next to it already seems like so much, but to do it with each of the 52 songs?! That’s crazy! But I’m glad they did it, because now it is out in the world for us all to appreciate!