The four members of Mien all belong to other groups that peddle psychedelic rock to varying degrees. Yet the band’s mien is not one of a “psych supergroup”. Thankfully so – that phrase conjures up visions of grizzled veterans on a trip that should’ve ended decades ago. Instead, Mien seem to be as interested in the future as they are in the past. For a start, they’re a very internet-era band, operating mostly remotely, trading files online rather than riffs in the studio. And their second album, neatly titled Miien, is borne on thoroughly modern electronic undercurrents: as much autobahn ride as desert trip.
Take opening track ‘Evil People’, which started life back in 2015 as a collaboration between The Black Angels frontman Alex Maas and Danish electronic producer Trentemøller. The latter’s influence, together with Maas’ chorus vocals that contain all the agitated indie angst of Teleman’s Tom Sanders, help the song to stick to a tight path rather than meander.
It’s not just a one-off, hook-em-in opener either. A few tracks later, ‘Mirror’ exhibits the delicacy of early 1980s synth pop, almost like if The Velvet Underground did a version of OMD’s ‘Souvenir’, while ‘Tungsten’ unfolds like a sci-fi cityscape. Even the more overtly psych-rock tracks spill into new territory or shake you out of your reverie. ‘Counterbalance’ surrenders to punk fuzz. Three and a half minutes into the mesmeric drip of ‘How Could You Run’, Rishi Dhir’s sitar obliterates all hope of stupor. ‘Slipping Away’ sounds precisely the opposite – urgent and present – and ‘Empty Sun’ is equally formidably paced.
Consider the band’s collective CV, and their open-minded approach to the psych genre comes as no surprise. Dhir’s band Elephant Stone play with traditional Indian music and 1960s pop, drummer Robb Kidd hails from the Sun Ra flamboyancy of Austin-based collective Golden Dawn Arkestra, while producer John Mark Lapham is a member of Anglo-American folk-psych-electronica band The Earlies. But Mien’s sound – particularly on this album, compared to their 2018 self-titled debut – isn’t that of genres awkwardly jammed together. That might have something to do with the three days of intense recording in the same room during SXSW in 2022. It might also have something to do with their method of making music, which is a bit like an inverse game of pass-the-parcel: passing around a loop, groove, or vocal phrase, each member adding layers, before Lapham ties it together with a producer’s ribbon. Yet Maas’ vocals muddy as the album progresses, and try as it might to hold on to those modern elements, final track ‘Morning Echo’ eventually succumbs to the haze. A wobble of desert heat endures.
