Mild High Club – Going Going Gone (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24bit/44,1kHz | Time – 29:38 minutes | 321 MB | Genre: Indie Pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Stones Throw
Mild High Club makes a long-awaited comeback with Going Going Gone, the band’s first solo album since 2016″s cult favorite Skiptracing. An album that speaks directly to the times we live in, Going Going Gone sees Mild High Club blending the psychedelic pop of earlier albums Skiptracing and Timeline with influences from around the world, especially Brazilian avant-garde music from the ’70s and ’80s.
Centered around the songs of composer/producer/multi-instrumentalist Alex Brettin, Mild High Club developed from pleasantly warped soft rock into far more ambitious and musically rich material. Brettin teamed with Australian psychedelic shape shifters King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard for the tripped-out jazz of their 2017 collaborative album Sketches of Brunswick East, taking the stylistic exploration he did on his own to even further out places. Third proper Mild High Club album Going Going Gone continues to push further in terms of more complex arrangements and more adventurous songwriting, but also finds Brettin clearing away some of the experimental clutter that could come off as random on earlier albums. After a brief intro, “Dionysian State” kicks off an album with a sharp neo-soul groove that’s as straightforward as it is strange. The same detuned synths, falsetto vocals, and unexpected shifts in song structure that were explored on earlier albums are still present, but they’re all laid out in a way that’s more economical and precise. Even when Brettin coats the entire mix in phaser, it’s only briefly, and we’re right back to Steely Dan level production and performances after what feels like a momentary glitch. Other relatively clean-cut stabs at psychedelic soul include “Me Myself and Dollar Hell,” the laid-back and horn-heavy instrumental groove of “Dawn Patrol,” the breezy shuffle of “It’s Over Again,” and album standout “A New High,” a loungy and tropical jaunt featuring Brazilian vocalist Samira Winteron. Going Going Gone doesn’t fully abandon Brettin’s tendencies towards warped sounds, however. “I Don’t Mind the Wait” moves dizzyingly through shifts in style and tempo, jumping from lazy bossa nova rhythms into breakneck drum n’ bass rhythms, the overall speed and tonality of the song drifting at random. Other moments like the demented “Trash Heap,” and “Waving” are disorienting, piling layers of distortion and jarring samples along with the more customary soul elements. Going Going Gone reaches new levels of clarity and composition for Mild High Club without losing the any of the damaged magic that made earlier albums such interesting puzzles. It’s fun, mischievous, and wildly enjoyable, Brettin and friends turning straightlaced soul-funk and Weather Channel jazz inside out and dancing gleefully around the confusing and wonderful results. – Fred Thomas
Tracklist:
1. Kluges I (01:48)
2. Dionysian State (03:04)
3. Trash Heap (01:16)
4. Taste Tomorrow (02:21)
5. A New High (feat. Winter) (02:47)
6. It’s Over Again (02:07)
7. Kluges II (02:50)
8. I Don’t Mind the Wait (03:02)
9. Dawn Patrol (01:34)
10. Waving (04:20)
11. Me Myself and Dollar Hell (03:00)
12. Holding On To Me (01:29)
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