DESPITE the gloom-laden bleakness of this year, there has been at least some positives from the cursed chalice that is 2020. One of those is the continuation of fantastic music dropping left, right and centre, picking up from a very strong 2019 with a consistent stream of flaming hot good stuff, all oozing onto our record players and streaming services.
The latest to add in the ever-growing pile of ‘Absolutely Good Stuff From 2020 Despite It Being An Awful Time For Everybody Overall’ is the new Mint Field album Sentimiento Mundial, following on from their debut LP Pasar De Las Luces, released back in 2018.
Kicking off things on Sentimiento Mundial with a dreamy, slumber-feel with a drifting sax, that makes it sound like you’re falling through through the gates of heaven itself is “Cucida Tus Pasos”, setting the tone for what is to come.
“Natural” boasts a post-punk twang with the saccharine, enchanting vocals of Estrella Sánchez making it feel like you’re in a lucid dream not long before throwing yourself headfirst into a hornets’ nest. It’s Crack Cloud on dopamine with a bassline that reminds you of Neu!; “Natural” effortlessly meanders between post-punk, post-rock and krautrock.
Jangly, shimmering guitars with ethereal, magical vocals, “Delicadaza” is utterly shamanic and otherworldly. It’s shoegazey, celestial sounds for the misty late autumn nights, before “Continingenica” lifts things up. Can meets Spaceman 3, “Continingenica” is a luscious, frothing, scuzzy stew of psychedelia, krautrock and dreampop .
“Aterriza” is laced with a wonderfully hypnotic, wobbling bassline. It’s a sort of Traams-esque post-punk ballad that sounds like the soundtrack to built-up anxiety. It’s really stunning stuff.
Eerie and ethereal with a delicately and delightful guitar strum, “Le Hable a la ola del ma” is like a haunting film score, having one look over an skyline at dawn, before falling gracefully into the lead title of the album, “Sentimento Mundial”. This takes a different turn, though, with a cacophonous sonic, dream-grunge tidal wave assault that violently tangles between the opposing territories of both tranquility and savagery.
“Nuestro Sentido” is almost an ode to MBV with glistening, reverb-drenched guitars almost as if they’ve came straight out of Loveless, that also hurtles into the realms of scorching space-rock.
Next up is is a colossal cinematic wall of noise with “Nadie te esta persiguiendo”: it’s partly reminiscent of 90s’ alt-rock akin to Smashing Pumpkins with a pinch of Beach House, Ride and Slowdive thrown into the mix. It’s truly beautifully expansive stuff from the Mexico City outfit.
Next up is “No To Cagias”, which is like a fever dream. At times it’s like being dropped into some sort of sci-fi spaghetti western thriller before crash landing into the world of Spaceman 3’s “O.D. Catastrophe”.
Closing track “Presente” retains the theme of the opening title with a drowsy, sleepwalker before erupting into a brief crescendo of scuzzed-out, mind-melting psychedelic-rock akin to OSees and King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard.
All in all Mint Field’s Sentimiento Mundial is glorious stuff and is like an out-of-body experience; it’s is perfect for the mind to get lost to during the upcoming dark evenings when we’re all locked in.
Yes, you might have heard it all before, but very rarely is it this good. Mint Field are a shoegazing and psychedelic fans’ dream and sound like they’ve come out a time machine that’s waltzed through both genres’ finest eras and with Sentimiento Mundial, they should find themselves on many people’s album of the year lists.
Mint 500’s Sentimendo Mundial is out now on digital, CD, and smoked vinyl; to order your copy, visit the band’s Bandcamp page.
