Mice Parade
cut and paste and blur
by Katie Hasty

“When did you start making music?”
“Um, how do you define that?”
“Well, when did you first consider yourself to be a musician?”
“I believe that all people are born musicians and some just, y’know, fall off the path... well, maybe not the path, what a fucked-up way to say that. Some people just don’t deal with being born a musician very well.”

A somewhat drunk Adam Pierce wanted me to know that everybody is a musician, he just happens to cultivate that element of his birth. No, he’s never used programmed drums on an album. Yes, it’s impossible to ever have an absolute favorite album, or piece of art for that matter. Then, Pierce proceeded to roll the prettiest blunt I’ve ever seen.
Pierce is the mastermind of Mice Parade, a project five full-length albums deep with the latest, Bem-Vinda Vontade (Portuguese, “Welcome, Will”), released in 2005. While he may have been born with talent, Pierce’s mother made sure of the task by sitting him down at a piano starting at the age of 3. Now in his early 30s, Pierce effectively mans a number of instruments, including most of the parts on Bem-Vinda (with exception to guest talent) and has made a career of playing drums in his own project as well as others’.

In addition to being an multi-instrumentalist, Pierce is also a multi-tasker. With some help, Pierce founded Bubble Core Records, run from his Brooklyn office. He learned the trade while working at Caroline Distribution in the ‘90s.
“I finally got some raises, health care, things were moving at Caroline for me,” he said. “If you’re in the label world and you’re doing well, they make it kind of hard to quit. If I hadn’t tried to start Bubble Core then, I was never going to. I saw that moment where it was going to happen or never was.”
Since, Pierce has seen the release of over 50 titles, including records from múm and compilations that include tracks from artists like Moby, DJ Spooky and Mouse On Mars. Additionally, Bubble Core has released efforts from Swirlies, the Dylan Group, the Philistines, Jr., and HiM, bands that Pierce is currently or has previously played in. It was because of his busy schedule that he “accidentally” formed Mice Parade.

“I was doing so much other stuff with all these bands and I just needed my own outlet for recordings. I sat on my recordings and just kept making more stuff. There was all this new stuff coming out in ’95-’96, with people like Aphex Twin making all this amazing shit,” he said. “Made me feel like I didn’t have to only do all this rock shit.”

While a number of “rock shit” influences are present in Bem-Vinda (shoegaze and noise-pop, most notably), elements of jazz, electronica and Latin rhythms and melodies factor in. With recording help from Interpol engineer Peter Katis, Pierce recorded most of the tracks in one take, aiding the warm, spontaneous feel of what seems like a single stream of consciousness. “The idea is not to hide from a mistake in performance, but to accept imperfection as natural and human,” it says in the band’s bio.

Organic yet mechanical, the tracks ride on distinct, percussive loops, with lively acoustic guitars, vibraphone and even more drums following the rhythmic lead. Pierce’s matter-of-fact voice follows the instruments’ flitting pace, not drawing away from the patterns but falling into them.
While other Mice Parade releases like 2001’s Moonkoondi and Ramda were a bit more meandering and difficult to follow, Bem-Vinda and its predecessor Obrigado Saudade (roughly, “Thank You, Nostalgia”) are brighter, more moving and melodically inclined, though non-traditional time signatures and long interludes rule the school. The opening track “Warm Hand in Farmland” swells in twelves, with progressively more instruments and motifs added in. Stand-out “Nights Wave” first features the guest vocal talents of Kristin Anna Valtysdóttir, best known for her duties in múm. Her little-girlish, ethereal purrs float on top of Pierce’s hard rhythms and charanga/flamenco-styled guitar flourishes. Pierce first met the Valtysdóttir and the Icelandic troupe while touring overseas.

“I write really precise melodies, even too precise sometimes,” he said. “For her, she just has to show up and fling these free-floating ideas into it all.”
The track slides easily into “Passing & Galloping,” with a long, twinkling intro that dives into electric guitar and speedy toms. “The Days Before Fiction” devolves into a balls-out jam, an invigorating uptempo number that wanes between menacing and hopeful. Steady as She Goes” and “Waterslide” are much more soothing and positive in nature, some of Pierce’s pop-iest writing to date.
“I liked what I did with this record. I hadn’t made what I considered to be my version of full-on pop music yet, and this is it,” Pierce said. “I don’t want to make anything sound too easy, but this record has its subtle complexities.”
“The Boat Room” signals the beginning of the end, slowing down and a bit more melodically sparing. Vocalist Ikuko Harada (from Japan’s Clammbon) contributes to “Ground As Cold As Common,” her tiny voice darting in after Pierce makes the declaration, “Take your precious time.” The appropriately titled “Ende” rolls in a drone, followed by loops of what sounds like wind chimes and finger-picked guitar that fade into oblivion.

Live, Mice Parade (an anagram of Pierce’s name) brings an entire collection of musicians on stage, though, not necessarily to replicate exactly what is on the record. At Warsaw last year, up to nine musicians took the stage, saturating the room with individual melodies and even multiple drummers. The touring show takes on more of a collective feel, according to Pierce and, again, upholds a feeling of improvisation and democratic composition. With a rotating cast of characters and friends, Mice Parade has toured to Japan, Europe and Australia with much success and, luckily for Pierce, he speaks “passable” German, French and Spanish. Though he’d eventually like a “proper ensemble,” Pierce performs naturally onstage with his custom-built group of peers, with standout musicianship from all parties. Each song bleeds into the next, the encore like cheering after the stroke of midnight on New Years’ Eve.