Review of A Very Fine Adventure from The Montreal Mirror by Rupert Bottenberg
Following a masterful mash-up of old-tyme kiddie records and a lively, wide-ranging remix project, Massachusetts maestro Mike Langlie—a wonderful graphic artist and, as far as I can tell, the only musician in the world to use the tinkling toy piano as his primary instrument—gets back to basics. Funny to say that, given that Langlie’s work always dives fearlessly into the cute, weird, silly, sugar-sticky realm of childhood fun, daring haters to heap on the bah-humbugs (his wise, intricate and crazily catchy compositions, however, are hardly child’s play). Ostensibly a dozen tunes for a trekking trio of bunnies in a balloon, this cleverly packaged album of “toytronica” taps into a wider range of moods and moments than one might guess.