Musky space rock
It has taken me several repeats to sink my teeth into the latest EP from Mind Pool. Recurrence feels like a tribute a selection of elements. At times, its direction feels raised towards the sun, and at others, it belongs to the ground, rumbling in and out the dirt like hay bales that has lost their field.
“Wonder Lane” brings me to a very early memory, with a similar guitar sequence that sets up the cadence to Kid of Doom’s one track. I can’t help but think of the cross pollination of genres on a bigger scale, where guitar chords can work for an instrumental electronic band, as well as a progressive psychedelic space rock sound. Both experimental in nature, the similar sounds I hear are the ones that allows for growth, in the song and the album on a whole. It goes to show how a momentum can be built up by disguising single tastes in music and putting them together to form a collective that fuses their inspirations together. With dreamy vocals vibrating off the musky guitar arrangements, the progression moves from whispered details to a sound that feels like its swallowing its habitat entirely. The sometimes subtle distortion leads into more submissive tones, but is complimented with its route in creating rotating tempos throughout the track.
The angst in “Artificial” is beyond that of misery or melancholia. It is of a heightened state of voyeurism. The variety in vocals feature an assortment of chords that feel like they are drowning in bubbles, as each count weakens; the build up becomes more prominent. As soon as the glitch from the cymbals meet the musing strings, it feels like it is taking us to an orbit, pulling us in further, as if the galaxies were wrapping around us like a plaster takes to a finger.
Instrumentally focused, the track is dedicated to experimental vibrations. It sways and curses, flows and sighs. “Aviary” feels like a continuous thought, stirring around to find meaning, by exploring the roles of many, of a nomad, a daydreamer, a busker and a drifter. It takes the listener on a journey of immense delirium and disorientation and brings them back with burly harmonies as it moves gently around the hemisphere of instruments.
“Trouble myself” has several intricacies that draw me deeper to its persona. The track contemplates giving things a go and fighting for what you want or sitting down and falling. It speaks of the opposite spectrums by using delay and intervals to keep the spark alight.
The strings are close to pumping velocity in the bloodstream in “Golden heart.” It’s as if the beast has been sleeping throughout the EP and wakes up to make itself heard in this track. It calls, vocally and percussion wise, to be heard and to be elevated as they have made it through the different levels of consciousness throughout their soundscape.
Often basic in its composition and not overly complex in its arrangement, Recurrence is without ego. It goes to a place where the music allows you to feel curious, open-minded and present. It just feels like the two of us when I listen to it, and doesn’t slot into a particular mood, but rather provoke one.
Download Recurrence by Mind Pool on Bandcamp
