The long-awaited debut album from Tijuanense indie band Mint Field is finally ready. Pasar de Las Luces has been two years in the making, but is now set for release February 23, and the second album single is here, with a video, premiering on Remezcla today.
“Quiero Otoño de Nuevo,” which could be translated as “I wish it was autumn again,” hooks an expansive, dreamy shoegaze tune up to a motorik beat. That driving beat helps make this song one of the sunnier, more upbeat jams from the duo of Estrella Sanchez and Amor Amezcua, whose recent releases have leaned toward haunting, Eno-influenced post-rock. In a statement, the pair characterized it as “very contemplative,” saying, “This song is about the horizon, shadows and how infinite they are.” Indeed, the steady tempo and rambling guitar line suggest a long, sunlit drive, maybe a day trip through the desert, with plenty of time to gaze out the window and think, the horizon always comfortingly far away – nothing to worry about for miles.
The band’s debt to krautrock is more pronounced here than on previous releases, perhaps because German krautrock band Neu! was a direct touchstone for this particular cut. “Quiero Otoño de Nuevo” came together during a recording session in the summer of 2017, while the band was in Detroit, working with producer Christopher Koltay. The band describes writing it in the studio as a “beautiful and fun process” and has funny story to tell about it: “We had the principal idea, we had the lyrics, but we didn’t have the song finished and ready to record,” they recall. Estrella remembers “jamming to this song. Chris heard us and he told me, ‘We have to record this song and I’ll make sure it’s going to sound just like your T-shirt! I was wearing a Neu! shirt,” she says.
For the video, the subject of contemplation is a pair of malfunctioning digital billboards, and the stressed-out technician charged with their operation. There are screens everywhere in the clip, but very little communication. It could be read as an invitation to meditate on the ironic alienation of this hyperconnected era, but you could just as easily get lost in the hypnotic groove and glowing sea of LEDs.
Mint Field’s Pasar de las Luces is out February 23. Catch them at SXSW or on one of the tour dates below.