Announced less than a year after their last album release, Stray Fantasies, which came out in January 2020, Mint Julep return in March with a new album entitled In A Deep And Dreamless Sleep, via Western Vinyl.
That album was a kaleidoscopic and dreamy concoction of shoegaze wonder, from album opener “Blinded” to the disco-tinged single “Escape” ; there was a hedonistic joie de vivre reminiscent of the Pet Shop Boys, providing a lovely marriage of synths and dreamy vocals supplied by the partnership of Hollie and Keith Kenniff.
“Black Maps” serves as perfect reintroduction to the duo, a stepping stone from the last album and into this new work. The song serves as an antidote to the madness of the current climate – a four-minute trip of wonder and revelry away from the madness of this pandemic world.
Keith explains: “Our previous material tended to be structured largely in a verse/chorus setting, but these songs are more free flowing and through-composed with a focus on mood and texture.
“A lot of the songs are more stream-of-consciousness than premeditated; we went with first ideas and let them guide the composition rather than planning a definitive road map– which hopefully lends itself to creating a specific and unique emotional connection.”
This juxtaposition of the living and dream-worlds and interchangeability of living and dying imbues the softness of the finished article in contrast with the harsh reality in which we consume it.
In A Deep and Dreamless Sleep can be pre-ordered here.
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