Mimas :: The Worries [post-millineal opera from Valhalla]

". . . bank robbers, violence, sex and blood! Only with sock puppets instead of humans!"

Sounds Like: you truly understand Don Quixote, the man--windmills and all.

RIYL: James, American Football, Do Make Say Think, Sigur Ros, Appleseed Cast

A Few Words: At a time when the bounty of new bands are immulating Brian Wilson (projecting harmonies and melodies about as symetrical as The Elephant Man), it's refreshng to hear something performed in a major key. And while they employ some of the same musical devices as Mogwai and jazzy, off-beat meanderings similar to The Sea and Cake, their tendency to shift course sets them apart from both. Mimas is neither loud-soft-loud nor ambient soothe pop, though they apply hues of both to their canvas. The result comprises complex layers of overlapping lyrics, guitars both distored and buoyant, shouts, and great, emotive trumpet blasts.

Mimas are from Denmark. But this means as much as saying "Mogwai are form Glasgow" or "Arcade Fire are from Montreal": the place does not define the sound. Yet in the case of Mimas, the sound creates a audial landscape with stunning clarity and depth. Theirs is not a post-modern world, such vistas plagued by subjectivity and awkward structures. If you call them "post-" anything call them post-millineal: the ability to make useful the detritus and shapeless left-overs; to build the operatic from flattened odds-and-ends. The ingenuity of Mimas is how they craft an impressive and orginal sound, but tether it to harmonic foundations unmistakably familiar. The Worries is thought-provoking, accessible, and absolutely brilliant.

Buy Mimas from Amazon, or download "Cats on Fire" (for free!) from their debut album, The Worries, out 21 June

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