by Becca Barglowski (@beccabarglow)
Following the tentative dip and subsequent ripples of their self-titled EP, Mind Shrine dives headfirst into the indie-rock scene with the release of their latest release. Sporting just seven tracks, Is It You? is fashioned after the incessant way that the human life is led. Much like how consecutive days unconsciously turn into weeks, each song exists distinctly separate from one another and still somehow, the tracklist can also be blended together into one mind-melting thirty minute trip.
When it comes to the overlapping style of their psychedelic rock sound, Mind Shrine layers with a deliberate attention to the relationship between sentiment and sound; as the tone, pace, and mood of “Dance Around The Truth” shift, the live instruments either agree in cohesive harmony or disagree by way of jarring contradiction. “You can try every night / You can dance around the truth to feel alright,” vocalist Jess Howard sings softly, allowing the sobering solemnity of her point to stand-out against the opposing force of an infectiously dance-y instrumental. Housing the crux of Is It You?, “Dance Around The Truth” actively advises against all that its title suggests; for better or worse, Mind Shrine is more invested in embracing the truth than feeling good.
No matter the method of delivery, the album-wide message of radical acceptance remains the same; desperate to share the hefty weight of their experiential findings, Mind Shrine repeats themselves over and over again in as many different ways as possible. Holding the perspective of being stuck in a rut, “Mac and Cheese” lyrically acknowledges the truths about time that we’d rather ignore, “Oh I know the feeling, it never goes away / Life pulls back and forth just the same.” While “Mac and Cheese” portrays the tortuous gridlock between personal regression and time’s progression, the supporting instruments play out in casually cool contradiction with winding riffs and whining reverb so as to soften the blow, swaddling the listener in sweet sounds after having shaken them awake with hard-hitting truths.
Within Mind Shrine’s full commitment to radical acceptance exists an unspoken agreement to also address the existential dread that follows their hefty realizations. “Pocket Change” doubles as both the grooviest and most blunt track. In competition for your attention, the lead and rhythmic guitarists fire off electric licks; Howard sings, “You say you wanna get better / but you make no effort.”
In the universe crafted by Is It You? every morning gives way to a day that is both tired and new; a day in which waking up brings about opportunity and exhaustion in equal parts - Mind Shrine is neither defeated nor empowered, but present.