Mimi Soya – ‘I Can’t Stand Pop Bands’

By Phil Micallef

Before getting round to even listening to this EP from Brighton quartet Mimi Soya, there are several pre-conceptions that I can’t help but notice upon looking at the CD artwork.  The bright, mainly pink-orientated, cartoon-like colour scheme, along with a photo of a female vocalist with dyed red hair to boot (never seen that before!), just scream the words ‘POP PUNK’.  And that’s precisely what we have on show here.

The band are very good at what they do, although what they do is very much pop punk by numbers and nothing that no one hasn’t heard a million times before.  Lead singer Jorja has a naturally gifted voice with a great deal of range, which must no doubt be quite a draw live.  Unfortunately though, I find myself horribly put off by the over-bearing American accent that she thrusts into her vocals.

The whole sound of these four tracks instantly makes me think of the OC (or whatever idyllic American teen-drama is cool nowadays), along with music videos where the band are playing at a house party where all their really cool mates, all smarted up in the latest pop-punk threads, are dancing around like idiots, whilst being ceaselessly aware of how funny and daft they look, but not caring because they think it makes them look cool.

If you’re into this sort of thing, which a lot of people seem to be, then fine – go ahead, enjoy.  It would be far too easy for me to end this review with a generic witty twist on the EP’s title by stating firmly that ‘I can’t stand pop punk bands’, so I’ll just leave it there.