By Colin Dierckins
It’s hard to imagine where a band that is seemingly always on the road, like Mild High Club, finds time to write and record new music. Over the past two years, MHC has zig-zagged its way across the United States and the better half of Europe in support of their debut album, Timeline. At some point, lead singer and head ring-leader, Alex Brettin, was able to string together enough moments of solitude to manufacture a body of work that is equal parts psychedelic and jazz rock.
Hitting the studio in Oakland, CA, Brettin wrote and recorded the majority of Skiptracing by himself and without the help of his bandmates, or *Club members (a rotating cast of backing musicians that make up the band). Drawing on inspiration from The Beatles (a la Sgt. Peppers), Steely Dan, and Don Blackman, the record is dripping with the hazy psych-pop sound that fans have come to love. With a noticeably increased presence of jazz that can be somewhat haunting and beautiful at the same time, Brettin gives us a window to his intellect through his own brand of punch-drunk harmonies and story-telling.
If there is one element that MHC has seemed to develop a deeper love for, it is the sound effects that are prevalent on the back half on the record . At times, Brettin’s sluggish delivery of laissez- faire lyrics are heavily distorted to feel like something out of a codeine-fueled carnival funhouse experience. Pair that with their signature jangly keys and slide guitar and you have one trippy album, regardless of how inebriated you are while listening to it.
Listen to Skiptracing. Out on Stone’s Throw Records via spotify.
Video for Skiptracing
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