Taste the mint
- The Mint EP
- This 18 minute EP, contains four tracks, none striking as the "single" or standout track. It flows well and is a pleasurable listen beginning to end. Good music that still maintains such a vast sense of accessibility is hard to come by these days.
- Visit The Mint on Myspace
- Buy the EP
The Mint, a band I first heard about while attending Eastern University, seems to have come a long way in just a couple of years. I have no idea why exactly, but I though they were some electro-pop/dance-rock type act, a genre now flooded with the likes of The Killers and The Bravery. I think the idea came into my head because around the same time they came by to play at Eastern, a great dance-rock type act called Elkland, an act now residing on Sony that was unsigned and equally as impressive at the time. Nonetheless, unless The Mint’s sound has changed drastically since that time (2001-2002 school year), I was mistaken at my assumption.
Though I had heard of this band a few years back, I did not listen to anything of theirs until just a few weeks ago, when they sent me their third self-released EP, The Mint (self-titled). Packaged simply in a cardboard sleeve with simple, yet effective artwork (a brown background with their logo in a lighter shade of brown), the EP is just that… simple. The music is not too complex, but yet it has a layered sound that doesn’t simply get written off as boring or trite. They don’t try too hard, but they also don’t just sit on their laurels.
This 18 minute EP, contains four tracks, none striking as the “single” or standout track. It flows well and is a pleasurable listen beginning to end (although at a brief 17-18 minutes, that task may be less impressive than it sounds). Lyrically and vocally, the CD has indy rock quality evoking classic genre-defining “emo” albums like Jimmy Eat World’s “Clarity”. However, musically, the feel of songs is more along the lines of some of today’s hot pop-rock acts like Keane, Athlete, or Deadman (read: bands that sound like Coldplay, but are less epic).
I could go on to draw comparisons to and cite obvious influence of many bands, both in the indy realm (Elliott, Sunny Day Real Estate, Sense Field, Further Seems Forever) and mainstream (The Cure, Snow Patrol), but the bottom line is that this is a solid release from a young band that should get noticed soon. Listening to the EP, you wouldn’t know it was self-produced because the production quality is as good as any mainstream release. The music is solid and pleasing to the ear. The only major criticism, if it even is one, is the short length of the EP; sometimes it may be hard to judge how solid a band is from only 4 songs. But based on these 4 songs it is safe to say this band has the ability to make it big. Any of the songs on The Mint EP could be played on alternative radio, soft rock stations, and various other radio formats. Good music that still maintains a vast sense of accessibility is hard to come by these days.
Finally, one might ask, “With such a positive review, why only 3 stars?” Honestly, the EP is solid and could be a Top 40 smash if given the opportunity, but it does sound like a lot stuff that is already out there. Part of the reason is that it draws from some many influences; and, though it does evade the trap of being just another generic cookie-cutter band, it does lack a bit of punch. Perhaps, that punch I speak of isn’t really necessary and it’s just a matter of personal opnion. And further, though I see this as a 3 star EP, many others would be more thoroughly impressed than I. Whereas, it will become a CD that I listen to here and there, it is a CD that could become a fixture in many rotations.
