Need a fix of hard, grungy, politically angry music to get you through the day? What if there’s a little bit of synth sprinkled in? Then The Messenger Birds’ sophomore album, Tragic Comedy, is just the album for you. With a sound that’s reminiscent of bands like Highly Suspect, yet totally and completely their own, The Messenger Birds defy genre while making an album relatable to generations of listeners. Shakespeare couldn’t hold a candle to this work of lyrical, musical, and political genius - a play truly beholden to the modern era.

At first glance, it might be easy to laugh off the funny cover of this album. I mean who doesn’t love a robot/toaster in a bathtub situation, right? But this Detroit-based experimental/noise rock duo wastes absolutely no time getting right to the heart of this album: the current state of the world, which is anything but a good laugh.  

“Old wound, new face / Just looking for somewhere you can pass the blame.” 

Parker Bengry and Chris Williams, the aforementioned duo, lull listeners into the album with a mellow, resonant, and almost soothing opening track. The hypnotic metronome backing beep distracts listeners from the lyrics of the song. It’s easy to think this will be a fun easy-listening album; however, as the album flows into the next track “If No One’s Going to Look My Way”, it’s a little less mellow, adding in drums and a grungy guitar. While still staying on that calm, euphonic level, it’s easy to sense that something is building. The record then kicks it up in the third track, “Do As You Please” - opening with a steady drum backbeat that pulls listeners out of that hypnotic state from the first track into the exact opposite of the soft metronome. Track after track bubbles until track four, “Fortune Teller”, where there’s a musical eruption and the lyrical narrative shifts from the outside turmoil of the world to the inner strife of living.

“When everything looks dead, it’s hard to feel alive /  I’d leave the house but I don’t want to go outside.” 

An angry anthem for a tortured generation, “Fortune Teller” is a defining track on this album. The ebb and flow of this record mimic that of a storm: a constant sway from calm to agitated to calm again. It’s at this point that things calm down again but this time in a more serene, introspective fashion. “Alone in the World” and “Killing Time” gives the same theme as “Fortune Teller”, but in a drained and weary way. 

“Guess I’m keeping myself occupied just long enough so I can trick my mind that I’m alright.” 

Then, to keep listeners from getting too comfortable, Bengry and Williams swing back to the agitation with the seventh track, “Fountain Dreams”. The storm cycle continues all the way to the end of the album with the aptly named final track “The Cycle Repeats”. Every track stands out on its own, but when weaved one after the other, it creates a full portrait of the tragedy of living in today’s world. 

Every single listen will bring new light to the masterful lyrics and layered sounds of The Messenger Birds’ masterpiece. Tragic Comedy is an album of modern-day coping, and surviving in the world on a personal, national, and global scale; it’s a truly spectacular sophomore album. 

“Guess sometimes you’ve just got to riot for some goddamn peace.” 

10/10