Mikal Cronin may not exactly be the same kind of guitar-centric act as Led Zeppelin but the Laguna Beach rocker sure takes a clue from Jimmy page and co. when it comes to naming his albums: He just announced the release of his third LP, MKIII. That follows in the footsteps of 2013's excellent MKII and his 2011 debut Mikal Cronin. At least his album art is evolving along the way. MKII only featured a photo of clouds while MKIII features an ink-wash (which kind of looks like clouds?) and the performer's glum-looking face.
No reason to be glum if the new set lives up to his 2013 drop, which included some of the most enjoyable guitar work of the year, including solos raucous enough without quite reaching the unkempt state of Neil Young.
Indeed, the song dropped by Merge Records on its Soundcloud page, titled "Made My Mind Up," lives up to our expectations, including interesting drop-offs in volume as well as a piano (but more than enough guitar to go with it). Based on reports from Pitchfork, Cronin plays a majority of the album's instruments, including more "exotic" fare such as the saxophone, trumpet, French horn and tzouras (a Greek instrument with drone-like acoustics).
The album will drop on May 5 but for now you can try to catch the performer on one of his newly announced tour dates:
02/21: Schaumburg, IL @ Prairie Center for the Arts
04/22: San Francisco @ The Independent
04/24: Portland @ Doug Fir Lounge
04/25: Seattle @ The Tractor
05/01: Los Angeles @ Center for the Arts, Eagle Rock
05/05: New York @ Bowery Ballroom
05/28: Barcelona @ Primavera Sound Festival
05/29: Nimes, France @ This Is Not a Love Song Festival
05/31: Paris @ La Maroquinerie
06/01: London @ 100 Club
06/02: Brussels @ Le Botanique
06/05: Ravenna, Italy @ Beaches Brew Festival
06/06: Athens @ Plissken Festival
06/08: Berlin @ Lido
06/09: Cologne @ Gebäude 9
06/10: Amsterdam @ Bitterzoet
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