Hearts of Animals 7" - ZMagazine (Print edition)

"Not what I expected at all, this is way more femme-digi Slumberland label-style than the abrasive distorto-punk I was more than half-expecting given the pile of grit it was plucked from at Z Gun Western HQ. Four tracks of drifty-dreamy female vocals layered onto spiky-chiming guitars that are sashay-picking their way thru that same sunny field that Ray Davies and Co. are waltzing thru inside the gatefold of Village Green Preservation Society. It also evokes some of those waaaay-downstream post-UK-DIY labels of the 90's such as Che or Pickled Onion, back when drum machines were first being set at a steadily reactionary 60-70bpm, like these 'uns done. Most twee-skirting indie pop barely makes it thru the was for me, but this makes my mood feel a mite bit...pink." - Ryan Wells

Underwater Staggie by Eclecticat (Link) - mp34u.muzic.com

"Softly original, delicately collapsing, blissfully expanding, could this be what pop sounds like in five or twenty or a hundred years? Hearts of Animals make a joyful noise, one I have not heard before. This is not rock. But it might be a cure."

Insound's Recommended MP3 of the Week - "Stars Say No"

Mlee Suprean (aka Hearts of Animals) creates a perfect mix of lush starry-eyed dream pop and stuttered homegrown electronics. The wistful vocals and Casio click of "Stars Say No" burrow under your skin until they become the perfect daydream soundtrack; delightfully sweet but deceptively dense at the same time. Her swirling take on shoegaze is just perfect for the cool green shades of the upcoming Spring, turn this one up and enjoy the breeze. - Insound Newsletter

Hearts of Animals 7" by Doug Mosurock (Link) - Dusted Magazine

Quite the find here, a natural bridge between straightforward indie pop traditions and some more daring territory, where I thought Tickley Feather might be headed. I’m much more fond of this Mlee Marie’s work when it’s abstract and loaded with delay, skronking horns, and a psychedelic/free mindset at play. And luckily, two of the four tracks here fit that description; opener “Stars Say No” being the hit, and the most far-reaching track here, and the repetitive gait of “Stop Talking” a mincing, relentless blast of blue sunshine. Truth be told, the pop songs are good too...Very excited to hear more of what she’s doing. Good one. 300 copies.

Hearts of Animals 7" (Link) - Siltblog

...soars through the same jet stream as Amos & Sara or Family Fodder. Really terrific diy dub/psych minimalism & it might be the 1st record to come outta Houston that I kinda like since Charalambides split that swamp.

Hearts of Animals by Nicholas Hall (Link) - Houston Press

Even in a city whose musical denizens have a well-documented propensity for band-hopping, Mlee Marie Suprean is an especially prolific co-conspirator. Her shimmering and coyly pretty voice, elegantly phrased guitar work and slightly skewed pop sensibility can be found in no fewer than four consistent projects, with frequent cameos in others. She's like Joe Mathlete in reverse. While Suprean's efforts are well realized in each of her many musical incarnations, Hearts of Animals is where she truly shines. There's room for a little bit of everything in HOA, yet the music never feels like a kitchen-sink contrivance. Superb songcraft and a delicate touch allow Suprean to create music that is at once astonishingly heavy and gossamer-light; under her spell, seemingly disparate concepts and styles play nicely with one another. Dense noise provides the perfect foil for power-pop sugar; cheaply effective Casio beats underscore stabbing waves of pseudo-shoegaze psychedelia. This is musical magical realism to turn Gabriel García Márquez green-eyed with envy.

Let me Sum Up 2007 With One Artist (Link) - Free Press Houston

Every once in a great while we get a musician or a band that gives everyone a little shake-up - musicians whose talent, creativity, and style simply redefine the game - acts like Jana Hunter, The Dimes, and Dry Nod. When that happens, the ground shakes and you simply need a minute to get your bearings again. This year, for me, it was spinning the quietly released Lemming Baby by Hearts of Animals. Much like when I first heard the Dimes, it was apparent that here was something special and unique going on and before you knew it Suprean was everywhere - 002 Magazine, Houstonist, Skyline, Space City Rock, Houston Press, the KTRU top 35 playlist, and our humble little paper and blog. That explosion of coverage happened for one reason - a unique talent had landed.

Hearts Of Animals (Link) - Space City Rock

With Hearts of Animals, singer/songwriter Mlee Marie Suprean has managed to create something very cool and unique, at least within our insular little Houston scene. I mean, we've got a metric ton of folkies with guitars, enough to re-populate Lilith Fair several times over, but Suprean's thrown the whole idea on its head by incorporating huge-ass washes of distortion, weird electronic beats, and electronic vocal effects, and the result is pretty impressive. To me, at least, the sound brings to mind vintage dreampop, particularly My Bloody Valentine and the Jesus & Mary Chain, but with Suprean's quirky, Eisley-esque vocals floating over the top.

The Skyline Top 50 Songs of 2007 - Skyline

Hearts Break – Hearts of Animals
Lemming Baby (Link)
We're not entirely convinced that Mlee Marie didn't just get dropped off by some well meaning spirit in the sky, complete with a back-story, back-catalog and pointy auburn guitar. A year ago, we didn't know her from Eve, today, we can't turn around without stumbling upon some new project she's involved with. But this was the song that got it started for us – simple, sweet, coy; freight trains and hearts you really believe are broken. Yes, it's true, we made a Doctor and the Medics reference.

Translations in the Lost – Hearts of Animals
Grey Ghost 39 (Link)
HAH! We always wondered when someone would get around to using the TEMPO UP and TEMPO DOWN buttons on the drum machine from their keyboard as part of a song intro. Like the tap tap tapping of nervous fingers on the teller's counter, the beat moves along until ambushed by guitar and voice waiting outside for the bank-heist double cross getaway. And get away the song does. Bedspring guitar spurts where the cash is stashed, but only in small doses and always on the run. The revenue agents are coming and that means, well, gotta keep going.

Hearts Of Animals (Link)- December 2007 Featured Artist - Free Press Houston

The songs she sings evoke a loneliness and weariness earned through experience: bright poppy melodies that ring of hope and beauty with an undercurrent of sadness. If pop music is intended to be trite and disposable, in the hands of Mlee Suprean’s Hearts of Animals pop becomes something more – through her lyrics, sense of melody, and rich textures – it becomes literary.

Interview: Mlee Suprean of Hearts of Animals (Link) - Houstonist.com

The incredibly talented and modest Mlee Marie Suprean has to be one of the hardest working musicians in Houston.

Hearts Of Animals - (Link) 002 Magazine

Mlee Suprean writes great pop songs...They are great songs because they sound cute at first (but not to a fault), and then they get under your skin and you realize they've got a lot of substance. Not surprisingly, so does the lady who writes them.

One-woman band mixes up for shoegazers (Link) - Houston Press

Fans of lush, ethereal shoegaze or lo-fi DIY indie-pop would be well advised to check out local one-woman band Hearts of Animals. The lone member, who enigmatically refers to herself as “SWF,” distills the lush, blissed-out waves of the endlessly layered instrumentation and hypnotic drones of My Bloody Valentine’s opus Loveless into arrangements consisting of little more than vocals, a single guitar and simple Casio-driven rhythms. She then coats the nectar-sweet melodies with a thick layer of Jesus and Mary Chain fuzz as her haunting, reverberated voice cuts through the mix like an eagle breaking through a cloud bank.

2007 Houston Style - (Link) - NonAlignment Pact

Best CD-EP Lemming Baby - Hearts Of Animals
Best "New" Thing to Have Risen From the Bayou: Mlee Suprean
Mlee Suprean Hearts of Animals had everyone buzzing like bees. Yet, while Hearts of Animals received a lot of well deserved print this year, one great thing about Mlee is that she is so prolific so if you only heard Hearts of Animals, you missed out on a lot including her acoustic Mlee Marie which is itself genius. Whether it's her solo projects or her with Amye McCarthur's Wols or Mark Richardson's Oculous Sinister, Mlee was simply the musical King Midas of 2007.