Michael Burke – ‘A Strange Mistake to Make’ [EP] [Album Review]

Producer, recording engineer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Michael Burke unveils his latest EP, A Strange Mistake to Make, marking his return to music after a five-year hiatus.

Burke’s passion for music began early on. Later, as he discovered his muse, he was fascinated by not only songwriting but also by sonic eccentricities, which led him to a unique indie-rock sound: blending elements of pop with dissonant guitar solos, intricate harmonies and rhythms, philosophical lyrics, and an almost irrational preoccupation with minutiae.

In 2014, he released his debut EP, Pink Elephants & Saccharine Smiles, under the name Lilted, followed by leaving music, taking a graduate degree in software development and then working at audio tech outfits like iZotope and Sonos. He got married and moved to the suburbs.

Nevertheless, the Siren of music kept calling to Burke. In 2021, he relocated to Manhattan and took a master’s in songwriting from New York University and produced other artists at various studios, followed by opening his studio in SoHo.

Of the five tracks on A Strange Mistake to Make, high points include opener “Apophenia,” a song that Burke describes as a take on “pretentious pop in 6/8.” Auto-tuned vocals ride atop fingerpicked guitars and warped, syncopated percussion.

Burke goes on to explain, “The playful lyrics use the concept of apophenia to combine unexpected and disparate ideas into a cohesive whole and were loosely inspired by some of the feelings I was going through while getting divorced.  The dictionary definition of ‘apophenia’ is ‘the tendency to perceive a connection or meaningful pattern between unrelated or random things (such as objects or ideas).’”

Michael Burke, photo by Charlie Grosso

The intro to “Time Takes A Cigarette, Puts It In Your Mouth” resembles a child’s nursery rhyme and then shifts to dirty guitars complemented by darkly luminous keyboards. Ominous yet portentous vocals imbue the lyrics with aching remorse.

A personal favorite, because of its initial folk-flavored acoustic flow, “La Di Da” takes on resonance and more sonic heft as it proceeds yet still retains its mellow feel. The vocals, at once drifting and aglow with passion, give the song textures both quixotic and delicately diaphanous.

Surprisingly, heartfelt lyrics, complex indie melodies, and nuanced experimental touches make A Strange Mistake to Make admirable.

A Strange Mistake to Make Track Listing:

1. Apophenia
2. Time Takes A Cigarette, Puts It In Your Mouth
3. And lo! We Dance
4. La Di Da
5. A Proverb For Paranoids

Run Time: 21:32
Release Date: November 8, 2024
Record Label: Independent