‘The 38 Degrees’ is great… and not only great but highly addictive as well. Even if we left our review stripped down to this first sentence we wouldn’t be wrong. Instead, we’ll dig a bit more into the details to show you how talented and dedicated to his craft The Мighty Small is. Behind the obscure moniker, you’ll find Paolo Morena, a multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter from the United Kingdom. His music (and it seems live shows as well) is an intense showcase of talent, passion, emotion and incredible, multi-faceted skill.

‘The 38 Degrees’ is the latest offering from The Мighty Small and we can write hundreds of words only trying to describe the numerous influences that were gathered and transformed in this amazing fusion of blues, alternative, indie, and art rock. Not only written and performed almost exclusively by Paolo Morena, with guest appearances only on the last track, the record was also recorded by the artist in his very own home studio. And this is something you can’t really guess as the record sounds absolutely mind-blowing! It’s organically produced, it’s raw where it has to be and it’s polished and modern where the music needs it. The overall vibe is of a vintage rock record is accompanied by the diverse musical elements that are fused together in this beautiful and emotional music, which also happens to be socially and politically charged. This gives the record a rock’n’roll edge you don’t see often in the blatantly neutral alt indie albums of our times.

Words are weak to describe the massive talent exhibited by The Мighty Small in ‘The 38 Degrees’. First of all Morena’s voice is extremely versatile, sometimes soaked with Robert Smith style melancholy and other times carrying a strong garage and punk rock vibe. Then we’re talking memorable song-writing with varying and always intriguing arrangement. His tools of the trade are not just guitars, vocals, bass, and drums. Throughout the record are scattered additional instruments, like keys or electronics, that enrich the music texture and make the whole thing sound huge but never flamboyant or pretentious.

We wanted to shortlist some highlights from the tracks but the music on ‘The 38 Degrees’ is so diverse and moving so we prefer to let you experience the album from start to end. It’s a beautifully structured musical journey that definitely took a lot of effort to be written and produced. You honestly have no other fair choice but to fully devote yourself to experience it in its heart-melting entirety.