To be frank, we weren’t really sure when we’d be hearing from Mylets again. After some very tense, and most likely very exhausting public engagement earlier this year, it wouldn’t have surprised us if it took years for another release to manifest, and more recently we were excited to see him dabbling in hardware and electronics.
No matter when new music came, however, we know it wouldn’t come soon enough – that was, of course, until last week. Last Friday, Mylets announced the EP with basically zero warning, and what were we to expect? Something folk-y? Something tech-y? Well, we know now at least that we shouldn’t have assumed so quickly that it might follow the same direction as M. Reuff. The album was overall superb, but not everyone’s cup of tea when it came to a highly increased presence in production, a far cry from his usual output.
For what it’s worth, we loved it, and we’ll tell you what – we love this just as well, if not more, despite the short run time. Tape Songs, out today, dials back the electronic and modular synth emphasis of the last album considerably without abandoning them completely, and even reintroduces those Mylets’ signature loop-layer mantras. There’s a solid mix of this on “Anything,” which you can check out below.
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The bloops and bleeps from M. Reuff and The Secret Life of Machines aren’t displaced so much as they are mixed very differently. If you listen carefully, little pad flourishes here and there add a considerable amount of sonic identity to the morphing, psychedelic waves of songs like “Lowry” and closer “The Jetty.”
Finally hearing both sides of Henry’s brain firing off like a popcorn bag in the microwave is a reward unto itself, and not just for the sake of fireworks – there’s a sense of progress here in every way imaginable. It might not be an extreme leap, but everything about Tape Songs feels more chosen, if that makes any sense, and just as effective. We’ll be choosing to jam this short, sweet and moody little slapper for the rest of the year, and beyond.
Mylets and Closure in Moscow goodies in the same day? Christ alive. You can stream / download Mylets all the usual places except for Bandcamp at the moment, but when that changes we’ll let you know here. Otherwise, crank up the Tape Songs and find yourself aurally transported somewhere at once intimate and yet very, very far away for the weekend.