Previously performing in the three piece, Satire, Harry Blackman goes solo on his debut EP, under the moniker of Mind Redux.
Released April 2nd, 2017, self-released.
If you look back on Satires, the two tracks (Daze Of Youth and Light Up) they released were clearly the beginning of something with great potential. While the London group may have gone their seperate ways, Blackman still holds onto this potential with his debut release.
A five track introdcution to Blackman, now post-Satires, shows a need for the Londoner to develop upon his previous work, rather than simply try to continue the group on his own. With a clear psychedelic, dream-pop edge, Mind Redux’s style lingers somewhere between the realms of The Charlatans and Echo and the Bunnymen, half indie rock, half dreamy guitar ripples.
Opener Divide, falls immediately into the category of The Charlatans, immediately merging drawn out vocals with a meticulously 80’s Brit-pop, Madchester drum beat, on top of psychedelic waves of colourful guitars. As the shortest track throughout this near 24 minute EP, Divide lays the ground work for Colour Of Dreams to become an intriguing, debut EP for Mind Redux.
Following track Love Luck, continues a strong display of growth from Blackman, as a clearer vocal display with conventional indie rock guitars, blend together in unison for a warped chorus of pure delight for fans of indie music as a whole. With a sneeky guitar riff thrown in as a pre-exiting chorus solo, Love Luck is Mind Redux’s most enjoyable and attainable track throughout Colour Of Dreams.
While after this, Colour Of Dreams falls into an unfortunate loop of repetitiveness, with Moving To The City especially, sounding uncomfortably familiar to previous track Love Luck. Coincide similarly falls into the hole of psychedelic familiarity, with a list of similar tracks from Hunck, VLAD, Native People and other, starter psych/ indie-rock groups that could be mentioned.
Placing the unfortunate and almost unavoidable repetitiveness and familiarity that psych and indie rock music place on any newcomers, Colour Of Dreams closing track, This Trap is something to be applauded. The longest track throughout the EP, coming in at a near 7 minutes, this juggernaut of a psychedelic piece captures something that very few psychedelic artists manage to do. To be enjoyable. As simple as passing over into slightly different sounds, This Trap never falls into a state of contentedness, yet doesn’t run into the trap of trying too much all at once. As waves of indie-psych welcome in a chorus that The Stone Roses would be envious of, This Trap turns from an indie-sing-along into a cult wonder, closing Colour Of Dreams in more than a respectable manner.
So, while Colour Of Dreams may at times appear repetitive, and even this is only a small moment, Mind Redux’s debut release is a promising sign of what’s to come. Blackman’s growth from 2015 is clearly marked out throughout, demonstrating the precision and restraint the Londoner now presents within his work. As a whole, Colour Of Dreams leaves some space to be filled in, but this is nothing but excitement on my part for a future release, rather than labelling this EP as lacklustre, which is far from the truth.
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