Album Review: mssv, 'On and On'

(BIG EGO Records, digital, vinyl)

Experimental rock trio mssv classify their sound as “post-genre.” The bicoastal band — split between Gainesville, Fla., and Los Angeles — is hardly the first act to use the term, which can function as a sort of anti-label for music that cuts across genres and cultures. But mssv just might be the first band to weaponize the concept.

Mssv’s disdain for genre constraints manifests across the eight tracks of their new album, On and On, like jump scares in a horror film. Bassist Mike Watt (MINUTEMEN, the Stooges), drummer Stephen Hodges (Tom Waits, Mavis Staples), and experimental jazz guitarist and songwriter Mike Baggetta work like mad scientists, giving life to a collection of sonic monsters that lull listeners into a false sense of calm before striking. But like the best horror, On and On is about more than gnarly creations. It’s a record that asks a lot of questions — about music, love and the cyclical nature of life.

The title track opens the album. The most accessible song on the record, it’s a pretty standard slice of indie rock, with a Pavement-like groove and a fiery guitar solo from Baggetta. “Time takes over like it never ends / I want to leave it where it is but still be friends,” Baggetta sings, establishing a theme of infinity that underpins the LP.

Just when one might start to suspect that mssv have made a typical, jagged indie-rock record, they launch into the psychedelic free-jazz freak-out of “Super Dumb.” Watt and Hodges’ near-telepathic relationship is on full display. Watt’s wire-taut bass lines weave around Hodges’ anti-beat as Baggetta opens up his wah-wah pedal to unleash a wave of frenzied distortion.

“On Its Face” continues to pull away from any familiar shore, as the band takes a groove like broken glass, full of chiming harmonics and lush cymbal work, and rides. Watt’s insistent, architectural lines are not unlike Roger Waters’ ominous bass line on Pink Floyd’s “Careful With That Axe, Eugene.” Baggetta’s spoken-word lyrics further add to the dreamlike quality.

On and On is mssv’s third record since forming in 2019 and the first to so prominently feature Baggetta’s vocals. He wrote the music following a marathon 58-show tour in 2023, centering its themes on the “endless journey through the temporal and seemingly fleeting nature of society, personality, music, and life and death on Earth,” as noted in the album’s press release.

True Gen X elder statesmen, mssv made a point to reward listeners who choose vinyl. The limited-edition LP features six additional tracks that aren’t available digitally, improvised instrumental parts that serve as interstitials and weave the entire album into one continuous piece. (There was a real missed opportunity to call it the “Voltron” edition, but hey, no one asked me.)

Both editions of the album succeed in presenting a true fusion of post-punk, rock, jazz, experimental and ambient sounds, welded by a trio of masters into a record of controlled chaos and unconventional beauty.

Ever the road dogs, mssv swing through the Monkey House in Winooski on Wednesday, April 9, for a show with local support from indie rockers Swale. On and On is available at mssv.bandcamp.com and major streaming services.