MXMS

Live at The Regent Theatre

Los Angeles, CA

May 1st, 2019

Review and photos by Travis Baumann

MXMS stands for Me and My Shadow, a musical duo hailing from Los Angeles that has dubbed themselves "Funeral Pop", a fairly ambiguous genre categorization. Utilizing electronic compositions and a variety of instrumentation coupled with ethereal, understated vocals, MXMS' material ranges from dark romantic works to more electro-trip-hop styled beats.

MXMS is Ariel Levitan on vocals and Jeremy Dawson handling musical duties, in this case the live performance involved synths and guitars along with electronic effects. They enlisted a live drummer for the set as well.

Me and My Shadow were opening for Goth 'n Roll icons, The 69 Eyes here in Los Angeles to a packed Regent. Their stage set up involved two vertical lights that cast the band into silhouette with the occasional glimpse of their features.

Their set was roughly seven songs long but I was not familiar with all the material. The majority of the set was taken from their EP, "Funeral Pop" including the melancholy and romantic "Paris", the much edgier "Timebomb", and probably my favorite off the release, "Salvation Hurts".

They are best known for their song "Gravedigger" which acted as the performance's culmination, the song having a more spoken/rap delivery than the other songs and also a bit more trip-hop dance beat to it as well.

This was my first time seeing MXMS and I quite enjoyed them. Moody and dark but with the juxtaposition of beauty and romanticism that strikes my gothic sensibilities quite nicely.  I am looking forward to seeing them again in the future.

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