by Ljubinko Zivkovic (@zivljub)
Very often, bands or artists entering a new collaboration rush into getting their music out to the audience, hoping their ideas will come across loud (or soft) and clear. In such a rush, ideas can get lost, muddled and don't come across either loud, soft or clear. Mushfoot are a New York-based band/collaboration between Greg Albert (The Rainbows, Spite FuXXX, Holy Wisdom, LLC.), Ian Davis (Relatives, Ian Davis: Rock Band) and Katie Vogel (Relatives) who are now coming up with Time Before Land, their debut together.
When they started working out the eight songs here, the Covid-19 quarantine season came about, and the trio, who are supported here by Isaac Gillespie (extra noisy guitars on “We Waste Time”), Alec Pombriant (flute on “Time Before Land”) and John Dietrich of Deerhoof, who did the mastering, they had to do both the composing and recording process remotely. Yet, instead of that being a hinderance, it seems to have worked wonders for Mushfoot.
It turns out that this slowed-down, remote, process gave them ample time to think these songs thoroughly through, giving them the recording touch these detailed, layered songs require. Mushfoot pick up on strands laid before them by the likes of My Bloody Valentine ('Stay on It'), Broadcast ('Know Your Fears'), Deerhoof (obviously) and Stephen Merritt in any and all of his Magnetic Field guises ('My Shrinking Heart'), as well as touching on some (great) late sixties curiosities like Henske & Yester's "Farewell Aldebaran" ('Time Before and'). Throughout the album, Mushfoot combine all their influences so successfully, that they actually come up with not only an excellent and truly innovative debut album (influences or no influences) but with a promise of some more excellent music they might produce later on.