Album Review - Mika "The Origin Of Love"

Oh, Mika. It has been a long time since I have listened to you, my friend. My last encounter with this artist wasn't even his last album. That one snuck past my radar. Instead, "Life In Cartoon Motion" was my last run in with him. "The Origin of Love" more or less fell out of the sky for me, and I am welcoming it with open arms.

Thankfully unlike yesterday's horrid disappointment, this album actually follows suit. This album is exactly what any fan of Mika would want. It is feel good, upbeat, spunky music that is just like everything else he has produced in the past. It is everything I wanted when I first found out that this album was to exist -- which to be honest was only about a week ago.

That being said, I am not saying this is just a rehash of what he has already made. Mika has a great ability to create something that feels fresh whil still making it familiar. It's what a truly great artist can do. Tracks like "Stardust" add a fresh new appeal to an singer who has been around a few times, while still keeping his core sound, which centers around his incredibly distinctive voice.

Like any other album, it has it's ups and downs, with slower songs like "Make You Happy", which is rumored to have a different version anyway for the rest of the world, are a bit boring and skippable, while other songs such as "Underwater" take a while to build up and get truly epic.

It's when we get to songs like "Love You When Im Drunk" that the album really kicks into full gear, giving us yet another unconventional love song that were so prevelant on his debut album. His uncanny ability to deliver bad news in such a unique and positive manner make him a truly differnt songwriter.

The title track is one of the better songs on the album, making it obvious as to why it was chosen as the name of the entire work. It is a traditional sounding Mika song, keeping things upbeat. It also reveals that the true origin of love is you -- or whoever he is singing to or about. Oh well.

The album has so few cons that it's almost not worth mentioning. One thing I did encounter as a bit of a problem was the shear length of the album. The special edition runs over 20 tracks long, leading to a very long journey. That being said, unless you are a fan of songs in other languages, I wouldn't even recommend buying the special version. The only two songs not in French on the special edition tracks are a remix of "Make You Happy" (which still doesn't make it all the enjoyable, in my opinion), and a song called "Tah Dah", which I love, but countered with the additional price tag on it, I wouldn't say it's exactly worth it.

As for the US release of the album, it seems that the second disc is an acoustic album, giving us unplugged versions of the songs we've already heard, as well as a couple of remixes. No word yet on if the French versions (for those who want them) will be available in the US.

Overall, the second entry into A Week Full Of Album Awesomeness has been a much more pleasant experience than the last. With all hope, the next few days will reveal a bit more to the music world than I have been privy to in the past. Or maybe it'll just prove that all this hype was for nothing. So far, Mika has taken the lead.

I reviewed the French version of the album (because that is apparently what the UK considers "international"), so the actual US version of the album won't be out until October 16, but you can still preorder it. The price it steep, but the pay off is worth it.