Box of Dark Roses by Mope Grooves

Packaging deeply revolutionary rhetoric in surprisingly cozy packaging, Box of Dark Roses by Mope Grooves introduces us to the lives shattered by institutional dehumanization, seating us at the table with an inspiring family of choice as they weather nonstop storms with no help but one another. Politicians use identity groups as bargaining chips while siphoning any pathetic drip of social welfare into the wholesale destruction of entire cultures overseas, but this album only acknowledges these high-level power games on an intuitive, oblique level. Instead, charming sounds of twee electro pop, impossibly smooth vocals, folksy writing structures, and encouraging lyrical themes present revolution as the glue that bonds this homely community into an inseparable unit. From this ground-level view, revolutionary language surfaces as a sort of group prayer practice, spiritually constructing a livable future with glittering poetry delivered as adorable melodies, setting a trajectory for the day when enough people fall out of society to activate a real, momentous change.

- Michael