Pardon me if I’ve missed something but I received a variety of press releases about Mildfire’s latest EP but none of them in English and even Mr Google had trouble translating them.
Mildfire have often featured in our journal but I was surprised to discover that the last time was over a year ago, when we ran the rule over a sample track from their full length album ‘Kids in Traffic’ – a compilation of three previously released EPs.
They are prolific to put it mildly (accidental pun!) and have been putting out more singles in anticipation of the three track ‘Taizé’ EP, which was released on 5th March.
They’ve been talking about the track ‘Maple Leaves’ online so I selected it as the sample track pretty much on their recommendation. On it they are joined by Kind of Dusk (Lukas Streich), a Berlin-based artist and producer whose business is “forming neoclassical movements into avant garde sound spheres.” As you do.
Mildfire says the song “came about in the middle of a hectic European tour” and call it “a song born in the in-between. Berlin’s hum drifting through the windows. Two upright pianos, playing side by side. Crackling electronic textures, a ‘pichet’ vocal hook (I’ve no idea what that is; my lexicon doesn’t stretch that far, perhaps ‘pitched’) and a bass line like a heartbeat. ”
You know, if you add all those ingredients together – Berlin, classical piano, and a thumping bass line in particular – you’ve got a recipe for something stylish, chic and louche. Even before listening to it Ultravox’s ‘Vienna’ and its budget video popped into mind and couldn’t be expelled, even if it means nothing to me.
But ‘Maple Leaves’ bears no resemblance to that faux grandiose epic. Indeed it is a quiet, restrained affair and towards the end the melody line and various noises off might suit the theme for a late afternoon children’s TV programme like Teletubbies, if anyone remembers that.
What it does do is to redefine the concept of syncopation with, at various times, two voices (male/female), two simple piano melodies, various woodwind (or synthesised representation thereof) and assorted percussion all going off in different directions as if vying to capture and hold your attention over the others.
It’s mysterious but not threatening, floating the idea of falling in love while ‘falling’ into tourist traps, being both happy and childish while living in the moment but also posing a question – is this love or mere escapism?
In fact the more you listen to it the more enchanting it gets and I couldn’t help but compare it to some of the Swede Skott’s work, especially ‘My name’, which has a similar vibe.
Unfortunately I haven’t time tonight to go into detail about the other two tracks but they are quite eclectic and intriguing; ‘Backup Singer’ being a winter ballad about friendships turning cold even though you’re trying to avoid that and which was partly written during a tour of China, while title track ‘Taizé’ is Einar Stray’s “last attempt to find God”, having gone into a monastery in the French fields of Taizé, but where “he didn’t find her.”
Instead one of the monks inspired him to study philosophy. It turned out to be a useless degree and the song is “an ode to all the ‘wrong’ turns we do in life – that they might have value after all, simply by being a part of your story.”
An attention-grabbing band with fascinating stories to tell.
Find them on:
Website (Linktree): https://linktr.ee/mildfireofficial?
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mildfireofficial
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mildfireofficial/
