#mentalease

This album has been reviewed with an Onkyo TX-8020 receiver, Jamo S60 SUR bookshelf speakers, Yamaha YST-FSW050 subwoofer, and Pioneer PL-255 direct drive turntable.

If you're curious why I'm doing two reviews this week, it's because this record was sent to me by the band—members of whom subscribe to /r/Vinyl.

So what do I think of Indian Summer? It's enjoyable, and I applaud the band's efforts. However, Mentalease has lots of competition as well as big shoes to fill.

This band is a shoegaze revival group with their own unique spin—and they're playing at a time when shoegaze has gained more popularity amongst indie rock fans.

As a child of the late 80s/early 90s, I remember shoegaze quite well. Before grunge took over, shoegaze was one of the more dominant strains of alternative music.

It was bands from Ireland and the UK that were most popular. My Bloody Valentine, Ride, and Slowdive issued some truly classic albums. Less prominent—but no less talented—were American acts such as Blonde Redhead, Starflyer 59, and the Drop Nineteens.

The genre was named for a peculiar habit. When a lot of these bands played live, they would often stare down at their shoes as if hypnotized.

The music itself was sonically distinctive. It played off guitars that were simultaneously distorted and droning, paired with laconic or hushed vocals. But it was the sheer volume that set shoegaze bands apart from their contemporaries. When it comes to decibels, few genres have it beat.

During the past 10 years, shoegaze has made a comeback. Bands like The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Toro Y Moi, and Wavves have become critical darlings. And it's easy to see why.

Shoegaze pairs well with other genres that have become popular such as dreampop and indietronica. It's not such a big jump between The Crystal Castles and Bear Mountain.

However, that isn't to say that today's version of shoegaze is identical to the 90s/80s version. Dare I say, today's version is less noisy, embraces more pop conventions—and is nowhere near as loud. For this reason, modern shoegaze bands are often tagged as "nu-gaze".

(Last July, I went to see The Pains in concert, and was shocked at how quiet they were. Not that they were quieter than other bands, but still, when I saw shoegaze bands back in the 90s, it was almost mandatory to wear earplugs.)

I mention volume because I feel that's the ingredient missing from today's nu-gaze bands.

What made My Bloody Valentine tick wasn't the guitar effects—although that's what too many listeners get side-tracked on. They were able to do what they did due to volume. This was a band that used feedback as an instrument. There'd be drone and tremolo, but when it interacted with their amps, something magical happened. Of course, it was hard to duplicate on record, but to Kevin Shield's credit, Isn't Anything and Loveless sounded even better on vinyl.

For good reason, when I listen to any shoegaze band, the first question I ask myself is: how do they sound with the volume all the way up?

Indian Summer has more in common with 90s shoegaze than today's nu-gaze. This isn't to imply that shoegaze was better "back in the day" but that Mentalease sounds absolutely awesome when the speakers are blaring. Right when you put on the record, you're faced with a crisp wall of sound.

Of course, it's not good enough to just retread what happened in the 90s. While at certain points, Mentalease sounds caught up in the past, I'm happy to report that this band throws in their own ingredients into the mix. The instrumental song "When We First Met" is atmospheric, and as the song goes on, the instruments sound like they're melting away.

While there's lots of noise, there's also plenty of pop hooks. The song "Never Been" is simultaneously anthemic and danceable. Beneath all the effects, the song works.

Mentalease is an indie band in the truest sense of the word. Everything they've done seems out of pocket. Their label, Go Forth Records, has only released albums by Mentalease. It's safe to say that Go Forth is Mentalease's own enterprise.

For their first two albums, Mentalease was the one person project of Spencer Harris. For Indian Summer he's joined by Daniel Martinson on drums and Vincent Newton on bass. The personnel on this album definitely sound like a band rather than a solo project with the rhythm section sounding altogether slinky.

One thing I like about this band is how midwestern they sound. Straight out of Columbus, Ohio, they sound like the kind of folks who'd share a beer with you at a bowling alley. All of this is to say that while many nu-gaze bands put on a British affect, Mentalease thankfully avoids this.

For an indie release, I'm shocked at the sheer quality of the mix. Everything sounds clear and crisp. The drums and bass can be heard cleanly, and the guitars sounds fantastic when they're given room to breathe. This album is fitting for vinyl—which isn't surprising for a band that's subscribed to /r/Vinyl.

While this group doesn't have a major label backing them, you wouldn't know it if you only heard their music. I dare not call this "lo-fi" since everything seems altogether calculated.

The track listing is as follows

Side A:

Breaking Down 3:50

Once 3:43

When We First Met 4:01

Heavy Eyes 3:56

Miscommunication 3:15

Side B:

Anchor 5:53

Never Been 3:15

Just a Mirage 3:05

Sun Going Down 3:25

The strongest tracks are "Once", "When We First Met", and "Never Been".

The weakest tracks are "Miscommunication" and "Anchor" which sounds a little too much like each other. In fact, I had to check twice make sure they weren't the same song.

Catalog number is MRT-003

The art on this album is superb. In fact, looking at the art on their other albums, I believe that this band has a good eye for visuals.

The cover features a swirl of sunshine and clouds, and creates the physical sensation of dizziness. There is no text on the front.

On the back is a portrait of the band. Two band members look deep in thought with Spencer Harris looking directly at the camera. Harris is also wearing a yello Guided By Voices t-shirt that says "Pollard throws", with Pollard portrait, with text underneath that says "no-hitter, May 11, 1978".

Underneath the band photo is text divided into three columns:

Left column: Indian Summer in large font on the left side.

** Center column**: List of Side A songs

Right column: List of Side B songs

At the very bottom is the personnel credits:

Mentalease is Daniel Martinson-Drums / Vincent Newton-Bass / Spencer Harris - Everything Else

Album Art by Christina Harris and Brian Peters

Mixed by Sean Kelley at Victorian Recording

Mastered by Alan Douches at West West Side Music

visit us at www.Mentalease.com

The dust cover is your basic white paper. It gets the job done.

The vinyl is black while the label on the record is white. It is the label on the record is the only sign that this is an indie release since it's rather plain looking. The top of the label says "M R T" in capital bold letter. There's a black label at the top. Underneath is the name of the album, followed by band name. On the left side is the catalog number, on the right is the side labelled, and at the bottom is the song list.

There are three etchings on the record on separate places:

MRT 003-B

WMM

dP

As luck would have it, the band has their album available as a free download on Bandcamp which gives you the option for lossy and lossless audio codecs. The band also provided me with a CD copy of their album in addition to vinyl.

Hence, I've tested this album in the following formats:

Bandcamp streaming

MP3

FLAC

CD

Vinyl

Do yourself a favour, and don't stream this since the sampling rate doesn't do the album justice.

As for MP3, FLAC, and CD... I couldn't hear that much of a difference between the three. Perhaps MP3 had a slightly muddier sound, but that might be my own biases against lossy leaking in.

To me, the vinyl mix sounds warmer but still preserves the sheer loudness that makes this band worth listening to, although I wish there were more dynamic range at the quiet parts such as there are in songs like "When We First Met".

The appeal of bands like this is the noise that careens off the record grooves. This isn't jazz or classical. This is loud rock music.

A vinyl copy of this album sells for $15 on Bandcamp. Whether you might want to buy it depends on a simple question: do you like loud shoegaze?

This band isn't exceptionally innovative, though they are at specific moments. They don't have a whole lot in common with many of today's nu-gaze bands either—and sometimes seem out of step.