MIMI SECUE

naila

CD, karate joe records

I have to admit that Mimi Secue, even though they are a five piece band from where I live and “Naila” is their fourth long playing album, have completely skipped my radar up to now. I apologize. And right now I realized that the album presentation of “Naila” was yesterday evening in Vienna and I completely ignored that as well. I doubly apologize. This way I am completely unable to comment on the changes that have taken place from their last records to this one here, which I keep reading about, but for that, I don’t apologize at all. That is just a fact I (and you, the reader) have to cope with. And it is better I tell you right now than you realize by yourself when reading some ignorant remarks about the music. So let’s just concentrate on “Naila” right here. Concentration is a central part of this album, anyway. Not the sweaty and heavy duty way of concentration that is a dart championship or international business principle, but an easy, laidback way of letting things flow gently by themselves only caring that they don’t lose their general course and don’t get in each others way too much.

The connections between the instruments, between the main melody and the arrangement and between the various tracks to each other on “Naila” are all lose and open, therefore concentration is all more important. Mainly it is all about the timing, the waiting for the right moment to come. The right moment to pluck a string on the guitar or to start the string section or to introduce the lonely violin or the glockenspiel is essential not to lose the gentle basis the songs stand on. Some tracks segue into atmospheric sounds of a violin and a synthie-sphere (e.g. “Pilot”) while others stay in the mid-tempo range (e.g. “something sometimes”) but all of them flow, rise and ebb gently and with an intimate care. And even the sparse emotional culminations and highlights, e.g. the big cymbals and drums on “winter” or the heavy percussive rhythm on “rats” are on the one hand placed and mixed with care and gentleness and on the other hand soon replaced by softer and more subtle sounds. But that is actually just another point of what I meant with the timing and concentration, and it is no wonder adjectives like “gentle”, “soft” and “intimate” creep up again and again. Those parts could have been put deftly into the foreground and suck up the whole focus of the listener, especially “rats” with its strong electric guitar fading into some distortion noise at the end, but nevertheless the fragile singing and other tiny parts of the arrangement remain visibly at the front at all times.

Concentration is also needed on part of the listener. If you don’t pay attention and try to listen closely, this record might be over and you’ll think, I haven’t heard a thing on here. That’s the way it is with gentle touches, but those are the loving touches. The only other band I recall where the songs seemed to try to crawl back into the record and not get out as much as here is by Iron & Wine. And analogous to Iron & Wine you might miss a lot if you miss out on the concentrating part. Other than that there are really no connections to Iron & Wine, so don’t be mistaken. Structurally and effectively Mimi Secue are closer to Codeine (the band! not the remedy) than to any kind of Americana or even post-rock band. But actually, I can’t think of anything right now sounding as touchingly intimate and embracing as Mimi Secue, except maybe for some electronic avant-garde records by Mitchell Akiyama or Anderegg, but those are from a completely different category.

Do you know that moment when the first snow of the winter falls? When it is already dark and there is a small layer of soft white snowflakes covering the ground, the trees and the windowsills and all the sounds around seem to be damped into the most gentle and embracing softness? And even though it is winter and around or below zero degrees a beautiful warmth fills the air and you feel better all around. As if the world really was a beautiful place. “Naila” is very much like this perfect moment. Half an hour later the city traffic has cut its scars into the soft layer turning the snow on the streets into mush, everything starts to turn wet and grey again and the magic is over. (One day later or the next afternoon the snow starts to melt off again leaving frozen dog turds all over the place and the snow at the side of the street has turned into black ugly cement and everything has become ugly and cold again, but that is another story.) So you better enjoy this moment while it lasts.