| Megabear | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 18 June 2021 (2021-06-18) | |||
| Studio | New Cross Towers and Resident Studios | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 31:42 | |||
| Label | Big Scary Monsters | |||
| Producer | Rich Mandell | |||
| Me Rex chronology | ||||
| ||||
Megabear is the first studio album by the English band Me Rex. It was released in June 2021 by Big Scary Monsters.[1] The album consists of 52 pieces of music that are roughly 30 seconds each, in a similar key, time signature, and BPM. It is designed to be played on shuffle.[1][2] There are 8.06×1067 possible track orders for the album.[3] It was made available on streaming services with an arbitrary tracklist, and released as a vinyl record sold with an optional deck of 52 cards, each representing a track from the album.[1][2][4]
Reception
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 76/100[5] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Beats Per Minute | 69%[3] |
| The Guardian |   [1] |
| The Line of Best Fit | 8/10[6] |
| Pitchfork | 6.7[2] |
Jenessa Williams for The Guardian called the album a "a remarkably immersive listen."[1] Caleb Campbell for The Line of Best Fit called it "something truly special—not only an album of moving songwriting and carefully considered craftsmanship, but an album that each listener can make their own in whatever way they see fit."[6] Ray Finlayson of Beats Per Minute said "depending on how your listening experience is going; passages with the same lyrical focus wear a little thin when your order clumps them together."[3] Evan Rytlewski for Pitchfork said "when it works and the songs feed into each other just right, it’s exhilarating" but that "a regular 12-song album with a beginning, middle, and end probably would have been more satisfying."[2]
Inspiration and conception
After considering writing one long song, as well as having a series of really short cells, with each being one line long, Me Rex's songwriter Myles McCabe decided to try and merge the two ideas. He has said inspiration for this came from hearing The Blindboy Podcast talking about grime music being "well suited to streaming" because the songs are short. Before setting about writing he checked how long a track has to be for streaming platform Spotify to register the playing of it, and so kept each track above 30 seconds.[4]
Release
Megabear was made available on streaming services with an arbitrary tracklist, and released as a vinyl record sold with an optional deck of 52 cards, each representing a track from the album.[1][2][4]
A website was created for the release. Designed by Lee Martin, the site plays each of the segments in a random order, showing a digital version of the corresponding card from the deck.[7]
A single entitled "Galena" was released. It consisted of five tracks from the album joined together, individually known as "Radon", "Applewhite Iron Sulphide", "Lead", "Wandle", and "Burnt Oak".[7]
Track listing
All music is composed by Me Rex.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Hydrogen" | 01:18 |
| 2. | "Tin" | 00:32 |
| 3. | "Weaving Clothes" | 00:56 |
| 4. | "Helium" | 00:32 |
| 5. | "Ancient Ash" | 00:32 |
| 6. | "Moon Rising" | 00:32 |
| 7. | "Oganesson" | 00:32 |
| 8. | "The Weapons of Artemis" | 00:32 |
| 9. | "Lead" | 01:06 |
| 10. | "Aion and Ficus" | 00:32 |
| 11. | "Argon" | 00:32 |
| 12. | "Distillate" | 00:32 |
| 13. | "Mercury Burns and Eats Itself" | 00:32 |
| 14. | "Reclaimed From the Water" | 00:32 |
| 15. | "God of Rain" | 00:48 |
| 16. | "Iron Oxide" | 00:32 |
| 17. | "Megabear" | 00:32 |
| 18. | "Ursa Major" | 00:32 |
| 19. | "Cod Liver Oil and Orange Juice" | 00:36 |
| 20. | "Lapis Lazuli" | 01:04 |
| 21. | "The Shape of Our Container" | 00:32 |
| 22. | "Krypton" | 00:32 |
| 23. | "Jupiter" | 00:32 |
| 24. | "Saturn Dragon and Child" | 00:32 |
| 25. | "Applewhite Iron Sulphide" | 00:32 |
| 26. | "Excavation" | 00:32 |
| 27. | "Silver Iodide" | 00:32 |
| 28. | "Heaven's Gate" | 00:32 |
| 29. | "Hale's Comet" | 00:32 |
| 30. | "Radon" | 00:32 |
| 31. | "Putrefaction" | 00:32 |
| 32. | "Venus" | 00:32 |
| 33. | "Iron Gated" | 00:32 |
| 34. | "Iron Sulphide" | 00:32 |
| 35. | "Opus" | 00:32 |
| 36. | "Crystal Palaces" | 00:32 |
| 37. | "Split Egg in the Mirror" | 00:32 |
| 38. | "Sulphur and Mercury" | 00:32 |
| 39. | "Wandle" | 00:48 |
| 40. | "Burnt Oak" | 00:34 |
| 41. | "Pulled Apart" | 01:04 |
| 42. | "Peck" | 00:32 |
| 43. | "Nettles" | 00:32 |
| 44. | "Royal Art" | 00:32 |
| 45. | "The King of Drowning" | 00:32 |
| 46. | "Peckham Rye" | 01:04 |
| 47. | "Sun Rising Over the City" | 00:32 |
| 48. | "Static and Splendour" | 00:32 |
| 49. | "The Party Eating Its Own Tail" | 00:32 |
| 50. | "For Transmutation" | 00:32 |
| 51. | "Neon" | 00:32 |
| 52. | "Xenon" | 00:32 |
| Total length: | 31:42 | |
Personnel
Credits adapted from Bandcamp.[8]
Musicians
|
Technical
|
References
- ^ a b c d e f Williams, Jenessa (16 December 2021). "Me Rex: Megabear review – a choose-your-own-adventure trip for the streaming age". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 January 2026.
- ^ a b c d e Rytlewski, Evan (11 August 2021). ""Megabear" - ME REX". Pitchfork. Retrieved 14 January 2026.
- ^ a b c Finlayson, Ray (26 August 2021). "Album Review: ME REX – Megabear". Beats Per Minute. Retrieved 14 January 2026.
- ^ a b c Reinert, Miranda (2 June 2021). "ME REX On Gimmicks, Gaming The System, And Shuffling Expectations With Their Extremely Unusual Debut Album". Stereogum. Retrieved 14 January 2026.
- ^ "Metacritic Review". Metacritic.com. Retrieved 14 January 2026.
- ^ a b Campbell, Caleb (23 June 2021). "ME REX - "Megabear"". The Line of Best Fit. Retrieved 14 January 2026.
- ^ a b Kaye, Ben (2 June 2021). "ME REX Share Origins of New Single 'Galena': Stream". Consequence. Retrieved 14 January 2026.
- ^ "Me Rex - Megabear". Bandcamp. Retrieved 16 January 2026.
External links
- Megabear.co.uk - The website for the album.
