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Released on May 14, 2014 via Bandcamp
Formed at a Rosetta gig in 2011, MIME is composed of five Parisian gentlemen who like their music pitched on a grand scale. Nurtured at the breast of the post-metal greats this debut EP is a remarkably refined and impressive entry in the genre. Recorded under live conditions in a single day it’s an epic work that cares as much for the delicate detail as it does for the big guns.
Opening track ‘I’ is a statement of intent with its sludgy and driving central riff pushing the vehicle of the music forward with grim determination. The dynamics are well-wrought; cresting and dissipating in a very satisfying way. Repeated themes and phrases develop, depart and return in a manner both unexpected and inevitable to arrive at a beautiful and brutal culmination. Now, we have been primed for what is to follow.
Track ‘II’ opens with a seductively haunting and mournful tonality that illustrates one of the deep pleasures of the genre; as you listen you already know that this is but the first step on a journey that will evolve and transport you, manipulating and escalating until the longed for blistering wave of heaviness blasts the melancholy away. It is a matter of calling the demon up into the circle and naming it so it can be banished. ‘II’ climaxes in feverish transcendence with the synth evoking a choir that floats ghost-like over the final and utterly relentless invocation of the crushing core riff.
‘III’ is the real triumph though and offers an incredible pay-off for those who’ve wandered this deep into the maze. This is where MIME ascend into the truly epic. The dynamic management is more refined and the phrasing of the riffs feels more direct and to the point. The drum work is mighty and impressive, serving as both anchor and rudder at various times as the band navigates these beautiful and stormy waters. The vocals are used sparingly and with perfect timing to add emotional amplification to the peak moments and carrying within them an authentic timbre and that blissful sense of defiance that such roaring offers at its best. The track proceeds with a sense of critical mass accumulating, a kind of foreplay with your latent aggression and your need to break the everyday bonds that hold you down. Strap in for the anticipation, the implications and the premonitions of what is to come, then the willing enslavement to the unstoppable drive of the riff. This is music that very much requires your attention and participation, allowing you to become a collaborator with the band on the art that they produce. The final third stacks supremely powerful delight upon delight; shimmering like an electrified spine, beating its fists against your chest and irradiating you with exhilaration. This is what pure catharsis feels like.
While MIME wear their influences very much on their sleeve they never slip into the merely derivative and are successfully carving out their own ground. On this evidence the future looks good for them and I believe that ground will continue to expand and shake with the quakes of their inspiration. This is one of the most powerful and promising debuts I’ve heard in ages. I strongly recommend that you lend your ears to MIME.
MIME’s eponymous debut EP is available now for free download and is due to be released on CD and LP in December.
