Albums

Mimas - The Worries

Miss Fliss 06/10/2008

Rating: 4/5

There's something sumptuously different about Scandinavian indie compared to British and American stuff. Epic isn't the word. There is a shimmer of dolorous gossamer to their pop sensibility (anti-Abba, I like to think). Recent indie pop greats have included The Shout Out Louds and The Kissaway Trail. In the past, we've had the dreamy likes of Mew, Kings of Convenience and Kent.

In the post-rock scheme of things, we have Múm, Sigur Rós, and now also coming from Denmark, Mimas are a source of new delight. It seems they're named after one of Saturn's moons, which is fitting for a band that dazzle so.

As I type, I've got a panoramic vista of a honey-mellow perfect sunset against the clearest of blue skies, and the music marries my view to perfection. It breaks the post-rock mold, as it's largely bright and dramatically rushing in rather than gathering delicate mood or gloom. Bittersweet interspersed with sunny melodicism. Music motors along, sweeping you off your feet else it elegantly wanders wonderingly. It's understated as opposed to that cliched gentle-silent-bam!-explosive-loud thing as perfected by the likes of Mogwai.

This isn't your typical post-rock. There are jazzy skits, tender trumpet solo moments, and the vocals have fervour and verve rather than any self-pitying. We'll ignore the moment on track three (Dads) where the singer shouts the word ARM pits! over and over, inexplicably, and declare this album a salve to all bad feeling, a soul soother, flowing through you like amber liquid.

The Worries is released on 6th October, 2008