Medollic

A Dollhouse is a curious cultural artefact – it is surprisingly telling of the surrounding world and the little girl who owns it. A daughter from a broken family may have a perfect nuclear family living in a house with a green lawn and white picket fence, or a girl with her head in the clouds may have the dollhouse of a celebrity. Dollhouses can reflect the deepest desires of the owner and unwittingly lay her soul bare, and Medollic’s Dollhouse is no different – delving into singer Lix Bacskay’s essence and spirit.

Dollhouse is the first album from the Brisbane-based band, and from the very first track Black Begins you can hear the beauty in Bacskay’s voice. Dollhouse takes a garden path approach to the trio’s catalogue of vocal-driven songs, with tracks like the incredibly hypnotic Human and the appeasing folk pop of Fable. The definite highlight of the album is the title track Dollhouse, with its catchy hooks and slightly eighties pop-rock sound going on. It’s definitely the heaviest track on the release – leading with electric guitars and smashing drums in the Medollic sea of folk rock songs. Another memorable song on the album is Kabuki, with its uber-catchy chorus that will get stuck in your head for hours.

With album peaks like Dollhouse and Kabuki, there are parts where the rest of the album lulls slightly. That’s not to say that the rest of the album is bland. While at times a little on the understated side, Dollhouse is a delicate piece of work. This isn’t your typical over-the-top rock album, with generic hooks, stock melodies, obnoxious drums or exaggerated vocals – quite the opposite, in fact. Despite the band marketing themselves as alternative rock, or as producer James North calls it “femininity in a rock box”, there’s a definite country vibe to Medollic. With singer and co-songwriter Bacskay growing up in rural New Zealand, and Dollhouse being mastered by Eric Conn (who has worked with Garth Brooks and the Dixie Chicks), it’s unsurprising that such influences do bleed over subtly but fortunately without turning the album into anything close to a country release.

Elusive melodies and sweet vocals means that Dollhouse is more like a book than a magazine – an album that must be listened as a whole rather than a manufactured vehicle for commercial hit singles, and the listener will fall more in love with Dollhouse as Bacskay and company hypnotise you with their melodies. - Review by Paige X Cho (Fasterlouder/MTV/Rolling Stone) Feb 2010

Today I am in pure bliss! Slept in on a great looking Saturday and sat outside drinking my homemade Verona coffee from Starbucks jamming out to a great new band I recently had the pleasure to meet named Medollic. Making you jealous yet? Well you will be once you get to know Medollic as I have gotten to know them.

A couple of days ago I was fortunate to notice a band was following me on Twitter and I was intrigued enough to visit their website medollic.com. My life has not been the same since! From the first strums on "Black Begins" I was hooked. It was as if my whole life I had been in a deep slumber and the power of Medollic finally woke me up. In midst the rush I experienced I was inclined to let them know how I was instantly addicted to their vibe. Little did I know, I would get a response and start going down a rabbit hole that would take me on an adventure that in honor of Tim Burton I will call , Nimrod God in Medollicland. One thing led to another, and before I knew it, Medollic front-woman Lix Bacskay along with bandmate and producer James North privileged me with a pre-release copy of Medollic's upcoming debut album "Dollhouse".

After first listen to their clean-cut sound, there was no doubt that Medollic, a band from Australia/New Zealand had mastered the equation that most musicians nowadays miss entirely. With strong vocals from Bacskay, along with North's extensive experience as a producer, and Steve Pope on drums the result is a blend of music that is both simple yet powerful, artistic yet edgy. "Dollhouse" being a carefully crafted album that artfully borders between Rock, Folk and Pop, "Medollic is one of those rare equations that’s as much about chemistry as it is mathematics." While comparing Medollic to any other better known bands would be injustice to the amazing work this band has produced, new Medollic fans will find an odd sense of familiarity. Think of their music as an old friend you never knew you had but once reunited you never want to let go. Personally I attribute this to the fact that Medollic is, to quote James, "the story of a bunch of experienced people who are great friends getting together to make a kick arse album". Well said!
- Review by Ray Russo aka NimrodGod (NimrodStreet.com, FL, USA) March 2010

It’s hard to find a female-led band that can give it to you rough like Courtney Love and Hole, or sing your ears off like Amy Lee from Evanescence, or even provide some pop like Gwen Stefani and No Doubt but chances are you haven’t stumbled across Medollic yet.

I recently had the chance to catch up with the Australia based band to ask a few questions about their journey, how it started and where it’s taking them…

IMM: How’d your band come together?
Medollic: Medollic formed from a chapter of fortuitous events. James is a music producer who runs his own studio in Brisbane, Australia. In 2006, while visiting Brisbane from New Zealand, Lix sought out a recording studio to record a demo she’d been working on. The studio she happened to choose belonged to James. After recording that first song the pair discussed working together on a professional release. When Lix moved from New Zealand to Brisbane in 2007, James introduced her to friend and professional drummer, Steve. The three found instant chemistry in the studio and began work on what was to become Medollic’s debut album.

IMM: Why the name Medollic?
Medollic: It was a name that found us, not the other way around. It fell out of Lix’s mouth one day when she was attempting, in haste, to say ‘melodic.’ It charmed us with its eloquent punch in the face, it was an instant brand, one of those words that feels familiar even if you’ve never heard it before.

IMM: Comparisons are inevitable in music, who do you think you’ll draw comparisons to?
Medollic: We really have no idea, it’ll be interesting to find out.

IMM: How can social media help a band?
Medollic: Social media is double edged samuri sword of a phenomenon. You’ve got to be smart about how you use it, and which platform you use for what, and when. If you look at our website medollic.com you’ll see right from the homepage users can participate with the band on whichever social or industry network they choose, from Twitter to Blip.fm, Myspace to iLike, Facebook to Reverbnation and more. We try to stay aware of the trends happening in each network and shift our emphasis to where our fans want us at any given time. For bands, social networks can be an invaluable tool if you do your research, or they can be an inefficient waste of time if you’re not watching where you put your feet.

IMM: What’s the biggest struggle an unsigned band faces?
Medollic: Whether or not it wants to be ’signed,’ and what that in fact means in the current musical climate. We’re in an industry that is changing at a rapid rate, evolution is a necessity. As a band you need to know what that means for you and know what you want to get out of any potential professional relationship. Gone are the days where you can expect to just be swept up and looked after by a mighty all-knowing label. If you’re still hanging on to that dream you need to change the way you’re playing the game, you need to make things happen.

IMM: What kind of message are you trying to deliver with your album Dollhouse?
Medollic: The quality of the songwriting, arrangements and lyrical content were paramount on this record. We wanted Dollhouse to be an album that takes you somewhere. It’s an open ended story book, rife with imagery, artistic twists, catchy rock hooks, delicate moments and a few hidden layers that we hope will take the listener on the kind of journey our favourite records have taken each of us. Where exactly it takes you depends on you and your own experiences.

IMM: Why did Dollhouse become the name of the album?
Medollic: It’s a little multi-faceted. Traditionally, a Dollhouse facilitates imagination, its doors open on unique worlds and memories. The word ‘Dollhouse’ itself also plays on the ‘doll’ in Medollic, as a simple reference to authorship – this is our house, our place, our show! But on that same note it’s also a little tongue-in-cheek – we’re no ‘dolls,’ there’s no plastic here, take a listen beneath the surface.

IMM: Any tour plans in the works?
Medollic: We’re working on it. We aim to head to Japan for the first leg of the Dollhouse tour, and we’ll be announcing further developments on the touring front at www.medollic.com

IMM: What can we expect in the future from Medollic?
Medollic: Take our current creative formula, add a penchant for pleasing our global fanbase, a little inevitable evolution and a lot of rock’n'roll.

IMM: Where can people purchase your album?
Medollic: Limited edition pre-release copies of the Dollhouse album are available at www.medollic.com in signed CD format and as a digital download. The album will also be available on iTunes in the not too distant future, and announcements regarding an official release schedule for the album will be posted at www.medollic.com - Interview by Aldo Singer (Indie Media Mag, NYC) March 2010

...I confess that I am obsessed with the quality of audio listening.

The War of the volumes is not a current problem, it is only now evident because it has reached an unprecedented degree of offense to the listener. When listeners complained about Death Magnetic (Metallica), it was a sign that bands and labels may begin to rethink the sound of their records.

A band called "Medollic" has shown that pop music can also be dynamic despite the bulk of the market. I had never heard of them, but it turned fan, the beautiful initiative. I hope it sets an example for many others.

For comparison, the volume of this record (Dollhouse) is similar to Back in Black (AC / DC), possibly the second best selling album in history.

It's about time we were concerned with the music, with the sound, not the illusions of the market. Are we starting over this phase? Hopefully. - Article by Dennis Zasnicoff (Audicaocritica.com, Brazil) Feb 2010