Mission Zero

Mission Zero is "your new favorite band. The brother/sister electro-pop group is a showstopper. Songstress Chenot and her bro David Keith are truly a class act with powerful lyrics and danceable beats. Picture Imogen Heap, Tori Amos and the Dead Weather doing a Nick Rhodes cover and you'll have a faint picture of the magnitude of the talent encapsulated in this group." - Groove Magazine - Groove Magazine

I previously wrote about Mission Zero, a brother-sister duo who I’ve seen a couple of times live by now. They recently released a new song, which, after a naming contest, has been dubbed “When the Morning Comes.” This could be their finest effort yet.

The new song combines some of the best aspects of the band – beautiful vocals by Chenot, top-notch drumming by David, and a catchy mid-tempo groove. The production on this track takes another step forward – it sounds cleaner, there’s a few subtle additions (do I hear the robots chiming in?) and the song builds beautifully as it progresses.

While it could be argued that “Heavy Boots” might make a better song overall, it always felt like a bit more of an outlier in their catalog – the combination of guitars and vocal distortion make it, well, heavier than their normal fare, which has been more pop-focused. ”When the Morning Comes” lands in that pop-friendly zone, but pushes things forward a bit, and it’s a more-than-worthy addition to their repertoire. I can’t wait for the iTunes link. - Joshua O'Connell, Required Listening

In a zine that features bands with names like “Murder Castle” and “Barn Burner,” we don’t often get into the electronic pop scene – but thanks to a reader recommendation, we’re taking a listen to New Haven brother-sister duo Mission 0. Their first full length album, Bruises on the Map, has been called smart, edgy, and “worth checking out.” But what the heck does “electronic pop” sound like?

I don’t know if Mission 0 is representative of the genre, but their tracks are at once catchy and sparse. Vocalist and female half Chenot Keith has a full voice with just enough grit behind it. She and her brother, percussionist and producer David Keith, create tracks that tastefully combine acoustic instruments like guitar, piano, and djembe with electronic effects.

Many tracks from Bruises on the Map are slower than the bad dance songs I listen to on Hot 92.3, so Mission 0 doesn’t really fit into the “in da club” category of electronic music. (Which is a good thing.) “Unlove,” though, is reminiscent of a fun Madonna song from the “Like a Virgin” days. Featured single “Disappear” sounds like it should be in the opening credits of a movie, and the stompy riff on closing track “Heavy Boots” makes it perfect for the epic-car-ride scene. Mission 0 could seriously become one of my guilty pleasures… - Alternative Control

Since downloading Bruises on the Map, each song has found its way into my life at its own time, resonating perfectly when it does find its way to the limelight. Chenot's beautiful voice, and David and Chenot's combined musical talents mixed with lyrics portraying an honest version of reality make it simply a wonderful album - for everything from a party with friends to a quiet drive on your own. Great album, well worth a download.
- Julia L., Bennington Radio

Mission 0: musicians with robots.
By Dan Barry

9:56 a.m. EDT, August 22, 2011

Mission 0

with Chrissy Gardner. $8, Friday, Aug. 26, 8-11 p.m., The Outer Space, 295 Treadwell St., Hamden, theouterspace.net

"I basically gave myself a year to write an album of originals. And I got a tattoo to remind myself," says Chenot. That's how the New Haven vocalist blasted out the pop songs that would become Bruises on the Map, Mission 0's debut album. "Last year I went to Bonnaroo, and I remember being so frustrated because I wanted to be up there playing. I didn't wanna be in the audience. I've been touring with bands who are fantastic but mostly played covers."

In fact, readers might remember her from one of those bands, the Keith and Mazer Trio, who have been featured in this column before. (Chenot's maiden name is Keith.) And while Chenot has written some originals for the Trio, as a group they primarily play covers. So it was writing songs for herself that really threw open the floodgates.

Mission 0 plays catchy, vulnerable pop; Frou Frou is a good comparison, as is Sia's more upbeat material. Maybe a dash of Eurythmics in there too, but without the European severity. "It's accessible, and you can listen to it and dance to it, but there's much more of an edge to it than the glossy, pre-packaged pop that's omnipresent right now," explains Chenot.

In addition to vocals, Chenot writes most of the melodic components, using a combination of guitar, piano and dulcimer. "We mix electronic and acoustic elements in each song. That's why we have our motto of 'musicians with robots.' That's kind of how we play live," she says.

The other half of Mission 0 is Chenot's brother David Keith, who plays drums and djembe. "We've been mistaken for twins a lot," Chenot says of her brother. "I put my voice through a pitch shifter one time, and brought it down two octaves, and I sounded exactly like him. Plus, it's so much fun to work with somebody who gets all your jokes." Chenot raves about her brother's abilities; she calls him "the best musician in the world," and means it. "He has this amazing ability to communicate with everybody. That's probably what makes him such a great drummer — he listens. He's not just back there doing his own thing keeping the beat."

For his part, Keith's drumming style varies widely from song to song. "Wrapped Around My Wrist" features a clattering, high-energy rock groove, while there's a straight-up club beat on tracks like "Unlove." And "Burn & Fade" features tribal djembe grooves that could be at home on a Peter Gabriel album. Like his sister, Keith also keeps busy with several projects. (His alternative/shoegaze group d.b.k. also released an album recently.)

I asked Chenot what the hardest part is about doing an original band right now. "Waiting," she replied. "I wanna get out there and tour. I wanna play every single night. When we get together and rehearse it's the most fun thing, and when we play live — it's finally knowing where you belong. Right now, for example, I'm waiting for our Outer Space show on Friday. I can't wait to get up there."

If you miss Mission 0 at their Outer Space gig, you can catch them on Saturday, Sept. 3, when they play the Desultory Theatre Club in Torrington. Visit them online for additional show details. - The Advocate

There is a strange and almost contradictory type of freedom that comes with the label of pop music. While the title is sometimes thought of as the enemy and opposite of free expression, there are those who take the term as a simple standard of accessibility in their art, a sort of mantra that says “Art is anything that makes people enjoy life more.” In this new age of free media, electronic everything, and D.I.Y ethics becoming more of a necessity than an ethos, pop music has been the favorite vehicle of a large caravan of duos combining programed loops and live instrumentation in order to create a new series of dance music.

Now, in the wake of this mostly New York boy/girl boom, comes New Haven, CT’s own brother sister duo Chenot and David Keith and their project Mission 0. The first full length offer from the siblings Keith comes in the form of Bruises on the Map, a ten track spectacle of smart pop structure and electric/trance vibe.

Bruises on the Map acts mostly as a showing of Sister Keith’s vocal ability along with the understated, but extremely well-constructed instrument arrangements of drummer/producer Brother Keith. The album’s tracks act as two sides of the same coin, trading off track to track between 90’s influenced power ballads and trance dance numbers, working as a good balance of what the duo is capable of. Bruise’s lyrics work mostly to carry the Sister Keith’s melodies and the tunes are best implemented as mood music rather than for hardnosed analysis. Anyone who is a fan of the boy/girl duo movement being populated by Cults, Matt and Kim, Sleigh Bells, or going as far back as The Eurythmics, would be well off adding Bruises on the Map to their collection and checking the duo out when they blow into town.--Anthony Geehan - The Deli