EP Review: Needle In A Haystack

Launched in 2023, Mikey Videotape is the brainchild of Auckland-based musician/producer Mikey Brown. After years spent playing with bands Mikey’s venture into an experimental solo project helped to unlock a new aspect of his creativity, employing complex time signatures, atypical song structures and letting him explore the unlimited potential in electronic production. After releasing a series of singles over the past few years, Needle In A Haystack is the debut EP from Mikey Videotape and continues his evolution as a rising star in the NZ music scene.

Needle In A Haystack harkens back to the concept albums of progressive rock giants like Pink Floyd and Alan Parsons. There is a cinematic quality to the overall feel of the EP where the songs feel more like movements in a greater piece than just individual tracks.

The EP starts off with In The Valley, a gentle, ethereal electro pop ballad. With richly layered, evocative vocals over a textured amalgamation of electronic keys and metamorphic production style, it makes each element merge into a sort of chaotic sonic soup of delicious tones and rhythms.

The title track Needle In A Haystack sees Mikey evolving his own unique style, collaborating with James White (drums) and Bret Crow (bass), he introduces a more live element back into his sound. Contrasted with the soft amorphous feel of the opening track Needle In A Haystack has an urgency to it, the sharp syncopated drum groove drives the song forward while Mikey’s vocals explore counter rhythms and melodies with the kind of intelligent songwriting you would find in a band like Radiohead.

Eye In The Sky is a beautiful tribute to The Alan Parsons Project’s famous single and it feels like a further exploration of the impacts of technology which Mikey Videotape began with in his single Algorithm Wasted. Originally Released in 1982 Eye In The Sky drew obvious comparison to George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984, it’s hard not to think about how the world has changed since then and how what was once science fiction nightmare is now ever present in our daily lives.

The next few songs move through psychedelic experimental tracks like Tech Noir and Now That It’s Over steadily building up to the final track Smear Campaign, a six minute progressive/post rock symphony that brings up the energy giving a climactic crescendo to the end of the EP.

I can’t help but get inspired seeing artists constantly pushing to test their creative limits, Needle In A Haystack represents a monumental effort by Mikey Videotape and cements him as one of the standout talents on the scene and an artist well worth keeping an eye on.