“Welcome to the inner workings of my mind / so dark and foul I can't disguise,” soars Lizzy Plapinger's icy vocals over “Hurricane” the first track off MS MR's debut album, Secondhand Rapture. MS MR, the New York duo consisting of Plapinger on vocals and producer Max Hershenow, plays with a hyperbolic mix of sweet and salty in all of their synth pop.

Evident from the graphics on their tumblir page, all in candy colored hues and a DIY aesthetic reminiscent of Lana Del Rey's, “Video Games,” to Secondhand Rapture's album cover, an eerily elegant mantle right out of Jean Cocteau's, “La Belle et La Bete,” Palpinger admits the pair likes playing with light and dark. In an interview for Interview magazine Plapinger explains, “We want to create candy-colored worlds with a gothic, macabre underbelly.” To which Hershenow interjected, “we find inspiration in unexpected contrasts, like a bloodied hand colored in pastels.”

MS MR comes to Madison this Sunday at the Majestic theater; expect to hear a melodic pop soundscape produced by Hershenow over the brooding vocals of Plapinger. As the band considers their visuals an extension and important part of their music, understanding MS MR's intent means watching the music video's they've produced. Enjoy.