Comprised of 21-year-olds Estrella Sanchez (vocals & guitar) and Amor Amezcua (drums & synths), Mint Field’s sound is organic, spacious, and inhabited by specters that lurk behind rhythms, where Estrella’s angelic voice evokes a supernatural world of beauty and melancholy.
Their record, Pasar De Las Luces, first for LA-based Innovative Leisure Records, is “a compilation of our lives from two years ago to now” says the band. Since recording an initial EP in 2015 in their hometown of Tijuana, Mint Field have played Coachella, SXSW and have extensively toured the US and Mexico. In the summer of 2017 the band traveled to Detroit to record with producer Christopher Koltay. “We had a much clearer idea of what we wanted and we had the tools to make it. When we recorded [our debut EP] Primeras Salidas, it was a homemade album and we didn’t know what we were doing.” This time, they managed to channel their inspirations and influences to transmit sentiments of profound sorrow, nostalgia and immaculate beauty…revisiting sounds from the past to make them contemporary.
Mint Field’s vision comes alive on Pasar De Las Luces ‘s 13 immaculate tracks that nod to everything from dream pop to fuzz-saturated shoegaze. Album opener “El Parque Parecía No Tener Fin,” is a melodic number with haunting melodic lines where we can appreciate their post-punk tendencies. “Ciudad Satélite” has woven harmonies and crescendos that detonate into a flurry of feelings anchored by a dramatic bassline. “Quiero Otoño De Nuevo” goes full krautrock and is like an introverted, reflective and delicate Neu!. ”Cambios Del Pasar” borrows the distorted and imperfect guitar sounds of ‘90s indie bands like Yo Lat Tengo. “Nada Es Estático y Evoluciona” develops from minimalism into a silent scream and “Club De Chicas” is probably the peppiest song of the bunch. The whole record has a unique sound that makes it stand apart from projects by contemporaries.
Sanchez and Amezcua not only show the potential of influencing even younger fans, but of also defining themselves as stand alone voices in emotional music. Although they have a foot in the past, they never let themselves get caught by nostalgia; they reinterpret the best of what the past has to offer in order to better express their feeling in the present. It’s a timeless quality that can surely take them far into the future.
laika
MINT FIELD Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And then I see
What's all around me
I'm not lost in here
In space.
No light yet I see
Blue orbits, I'm not here
I'm not lost in here
The lyrics to MINT FIELD's song Laika is a poetic representation of feeling lost and disconnected from reality. The opening lines "I close my eyes, and then I see what's all around me" suggest a need to detach from the physical world and explore the inner-self. The singer may be experiencing a mental spacewalk, where they are floating freely in a vast emptiness. "I'm not lost in here in space" is a realization that the vastness of space is not so different from the void inside. The feeling of being lost is replaced with an overwhelming sense of connectivity to the universe.
As the song progresses, the darkness of outer space becomes more apparent. "No light yet I see, blue orbits" describes a world engulfed in darkness yet not lacking in beauty. The blue orbits may represent the loneliness that comes with this newfound understanding of the self. However, the line "I'm not lost in here in space" is repeated, affirming that the singer has found their place in the world, and though it may be dark and lonely, it is not a place of fear.
Overall, MINT FIELD's Laika is a transformative journey that takes the listener through the depths of their inner universe. The singer finds solace in the vastness of space and realizes that the loneliness they once felt is just another aspect of human existence.
Line by Line Meaning
I close my eyes
I shut my eyes to the physical world
And then I see
In my mind's eye, I see things that are not physically present
What's all around me
I perceive the vastness of the universe and the endless possibilities that exist within it
I'm not lost in here
Even though I'm floating in space, I don't feel lost or disconnected
In space.
I exist in the vast expanse of the universe
No light yet I see
Even without physical light, I am able to perceive my surroundings
Blue orbits, I'm not here
I see the blue orbits of celestial bodies and feel as though I am not physically present in that moment
I'm not lost in here
Despite the vastness of space, I feel a strong connection to the universe and my place within it
In space.
I am surrounded by the infinite possibilities of the universe, and my existence is a small part of that grand design.
Contributed by Aria G. Suggest a correction in the comments below.