Biography
Mess Esque unites Australian musicians Mick Turner and Helen Franzmann in a project whose thoughtful, experimental indie rock moves fluidly across passages of delicate beauty and powerful dynamic surges. The pair launched their recorded output in 2021 with Dream #12, issuing a second, self-titled album before the year closed.
Mick Turner, who co-founded the instrumental post-rock group Dirty Three, joined forces with Helen Franzmann—whose varied solo recordings appear under the name McKisko—while both were isolated by the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown. Working from separate cities, Turner in Melbourne and Franzmann in Brisbane, they exchanged files that yielded slow, dreamlike pieces in which Franzmann’s light vocals drift over Turner’s singular guitar lines. The resulting tracks shift between wandering and purposeful motion, encompassing an expansive palette of timbres and feelings inside individual compositions.
Demonstrating unusual productivity from the outset, the duo placed Dream #12 before listeners in April 2021 and returned in October with their second full-length release, again bearing the Mess Esque name.
Mick Turner, who co-founded the instrumental post-rock group Dirty Three, joined forces with Helen Franzmann—whose varied solo recordings appear under the name McKisko—while both were isolated by the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown. Working from separate cities, Turner in Melbourne and Franzmann in Brisbane, they exchanged files that yielded slow, dreamlike pieces in which Franzmann’s light vocals drift over Turner’s singular guitar lines. The resulting tracks shift between wandering and purposeful motion, encompassing an expansive palette of timbres and feelings inside individual compositions.
Demonstrating unusual productivity from the outset, the duo placed Dream #12 before listeners in April 2021 and returned in October with their second full-length release, again bearing the Mess Esque name.
Albums
Singles
