“G2G” by Mischa

All the talk surrounding the Canadian underground in the last couple of years has tended to surround the Montreal scene, and rightly so. While Montreal has been dominating the headlines with some of the more inventive acts in Canadian pop over the past few years, other facets of the country’s signature music circuit have been blossoming under the radar – particularly Ottawa. Ottawa’s own Mischa is generating a lot of attention for her brand via the new single “G2G” this autumn, and while I was new to her music just a month ago, the track has made me a legit fan recently. 

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/pg/mischaofficialmusic/posts/

The synth part atop which Mischa is structuring so much of her lyrical presence in this single is really ominous, but I don’t think its exclusive role is to introduce darkness into the mix. Contrarily, I think its contribution to the grander scheme of things starts with creating some contrast in the instrumentation, specifically with the bassline, and thus defining some of the brighter tonal charms in this song without overstating any one element of the music as being the center of the track. It’s complicated but, at the same time, very unique, which is what we’re looking for here more than anything else. 

This bassline could have been tremendously bigger than what we end up with in the final cut of “G2G,” and I could even see the flexibility of the bottom-end componentry in this song producing some sexy remix singles in the future. I definitely understand where Mischa might have wanted to go with something conservative with the proper release just to prime us for a lot of experimental work on her end later on, and all in all, I think that her efficient craftsmanship – especially with an area of the material others willfully get indulgent with – is going to win a lot of points with critics. 

I haven’t been listening to her very long, but I can tell that Mischa isn’t giving us the whole nine yards behind the microphone in this performance, but it’s a deliberate act of withholding. Whether she wants to leave something in the fridge to whip up in a live gig or she’s just trying to spotlight different parts of this song by going small when it feels natural to go big – heck, larger than life even – it’s a concept that works, for whatever reason, in “G2G.” 

There’s still an awful lot for her to unpack both in and outside of the recording studio, but in “G2G,” Ottawa’s Mischa provides us with a really good blueprint as to who she is right now and what she wants to cultivate (in the studio, at least) in the future. Her edge is sharp and her delivery spot-on for what I was looking for out of a performance on this level, and while her competition is turning in just as fascinating a collection of work this autumn, hers might be my favorite young voice to debut in a long time now. 

Mindy McCall