Bay Area Album Spotlight: Mikal Cronin “II”

Here’s the latest feature from my recurring column highlighting great local albums. 

This month, I’m featuring “II by Mikal Cronin. A talented mult-instrumentalist and longtime Ty Segall collaborator, Cronin was a criminally underrated part of the San Francisco garage rock scene from earlier this century. 

He stood out among his peers for his ability to infuse poignancy and delicacy into the more abrasive and blown-out leanings of garage rock. His highwater mark came in 2013, with the release of his second album, a stunning LP that reflected his boundless range and versatility. “II” is not only Cronin’s finest record to date, it’s the best album to emerge from San Francisco’s prolific and bygone garage rock era.

Read more about what makes “II” so special here:

For a brief moment in time, San Francisco was the garage rock capital of the world.

It always seemed like a slight aberration, since the city’s musical history was braced more in psychedelia, punk and twee pop, as opposed to places with longstanding cultures of garage rock, such as Detroit or Memphis.

Regardless, in the late aughts and early 2010s, San Francisco was home to a dizzying collection of scrappy, scuzzy underground bands, from Sic Alps to the Sandwitches to Sonny and the Sunsets and the Fresh and Onlys, with the twin titans of Thee Oh Sees and Ty Segall looming above all. The exciting scene was captured in perfect detail by Pitchfork’s Aaron Leitko, who introduced the country to a culture that locals had long known.

Despite all its wondrous exploits, the garage rock era in San Francisco was definitely marked by a certain kind of roguish machismo—outside of the Sandwitches, all the bands featured in Leitko’s stories were fronted by dudes, and those groups’ live shows were legendary for their aggressiveness and abrasiveness. 

But for the softer fellas (that would be me!) who preferred a little more melody and little less yawp!, there was always a more viable alternative—the perennially underrated, habitually overlooked troubadour of the scene—Mikal Cronin.

Cronin’s self-titled debut album had plenty of raucous, hair-raising anthems in his line with his rowdier brethren, but there were also quieter, more hushed moments on the record that offered a tantalizing glimpse into another direction. Tracks like “Get Along” and, in particular, the drone masterpiece, “Slow Down,” turned down the fuzz and amped up the introspection, establishing Cronin as a unique and interesting addition to an ecosystem bursting with raw talent.

It wasn’t until his follow up album, the aptly titled “II,” that Cronin made his mark as the most well-rounded, engaging and creative songwriter of his formidable cadre. Released in 2013, “II” signified the high-water mark of San Francisco’s garage rock scene, showcasing what could be made possible when earnest emotionality was combined with high-energy guitar antics. It’s a stunning, forceful and impassioned document of the moment.

From the beginning of the album, it’s clear that Cronin—a talented multi-instrumentalist equally capable of playing the saxophone as he was the guitar—was onto something different—and better—with “II.” The clarion clear piano plinks that introduce album opener “Weight,” are almost transgressive in their softness—an immediate statement that louder doesn’t always mean better. That song is adorned with glittering chorus harmonies, reminding listeners again that Cronin can actually sing (not exactly a requirement for the scene.)

The following track, “Shout it Out,” might be Cronin’s finest song in his impressive, expansive catalog. A power pop gem with through-the-roof choruses, the number perfectly encapsulates the frustrated ennui of being young and desperate for direction. “Peace of Mind” is another brilliant ballad, imbued with weeping strings and lapping acoustic guitars, further distancing Cronin from the feedback-laden approach of his contemporaries. 

“Peace of Mind” is the perfect transition to the back half of the album, which is steeped in contemplative, thoughtful pieces. “Don’t Let Me Go” is an austere, hushed plea for reconciliation, while “I’m Done Running From You,” looks at a crumbling relationship from a different angle—that of a jilted lover finally embracing their own independence.

Album closer, “Piano Mantra,” is, well, exactly that, a gorgeous, heart-stricken coda on an album filled with tear-jerkers. Cronin removes all artifice in that poignant piece, beautifully mapping out the existential exhaustion we all feel with the couplet, “I learn hard, I’m tired, I’m sick I’m broke up / You find out what’s gone just when it’s used up.”

While Cronin’s sensitive side is on full display on “II,” there are still plenty of straight-up bangers on the album, such as “See It My Way” and “Am I Wrong.” But on this record, he displayed how a beating heart is just as important as a clenched fist.

While “II” was rapturously received, Cronin never really garnered the recognition of his Laguna Hills schoolmate Segall or Thee Oh Sees’ John Dwyer. While those two seemed built for the spotlight with their magnetic, amped-up charisma, Cronin always remained shyer and much more comfortable on the periphery. His follow-up albums to “II”—the thematic, “III” and the bucolic “Seeker”—were nearly as strong, but it’s been seven years since his last solo record and he’s spent much more time touring in Segall’s band than he has under his own moniker.

He's still engaging in interesting projects, however. Of late, he’s been soundtracking movies while collaborating with zeitgeisty comedians Tim Robinson and Conor O’Malley, gleefully transitioning from indie rock to lo-fi midi pop in the process. 

Like many of the musicians who once comprised the S.F. garage rock community, Cronin now lives in Los Angeles (I mean, it’s where he’s from—can’t blame him for moving back!) He always did seem like more of an outlier in that scene, but one who strangely felt the most San Franciscan of them all—a shrinking, sensitive type who still aimed to have a good time. It always felt good to claim him as one of our own.

The San Francisco garage rock heyday seems like ages ago now, but that prolific period left us with an endless amount of classic records. None, however, had the grace, power and emotional heft of Mikal Cronin’s “II”—the finest record to be released from that formidable time period.

“II” by Mikal Cronin is available for purchase on Bandcamp here.