Mandy, Indiana - I’ve Seen a Way Review
Mandy, Indiana’s new album swaggers with a level of confidence rarely found in a debut record.
This noise insulated, Anglo-Parisian glitchy dance punk band are exactly what you need on your current playlists and gig visit horizons. If you’re already obsessed with discovering something particularly out there and pushing your musical boundaries, this one’s definitely for you.
I’ve Seen A Way (stylised ‘i’ve seen a way’) is Mandy, Indiana’s first fully fledged album, preceding …EP, released 2021 this is their full debut. To allow some background, Mandy, Indiana are 3/4 English and 1/4 French. Angelic and fierce lead vocalist, Valentine Caulfield truly pushes the limits through i’ve seen a way. Crossing the lines between lucrative French Indie and dance pop elements, to harsh and belting noise art rock and post punk motifs.
The album overall is incredibly modern, there is a level of familiarity with what current expectations of left field and underground music entails. That being diatonic outbursts that would be off putting to the layman’s mind, yet us as a collective thrive on something that could be considered that acidic. The production also blends a fine amount of buttery warm 80s soundtrack synths, imagine that old cassette player coming out and there you have it, thus allowing the listener that safe haven with nostalgia, a monetary break with reverberating pulses, only to be lead by harshly pushed vocals and overdriven guitars. This can be particularly noted between tracks ‘2 Stripe’ and ‘Iron Maiden’.
The vocals are entirely sung in Caulfield’s native tongue, which enables that sense of harmony and prestige within the music. For those who speak French they may disagree yet it is a fitting contrast between something that could be used and overplayed in modern British scenes and wholly benefits the malfunctioning nature the music portrays at times. Mandy, Indiana should become a powerhouse in any music scene they could fine tune themselves to, the track ‘Peach Fuzz’ has a real Euro-Industrial vibe about it and would perform far higher than underground raves and onto the festival season next summer (looking at you here Wide Awake!) Mandy, Indiana exemplify that dance infused notion PVA provided to the South London scene a few years ago and as we know too well, emulsifying dance syncopated rhythms with aggressive noise is a wonderful melting pot, jam packed with spiky rebellion and brutalist static features.
There is a fantastic balance between ambience and harsh thrash within the album, a track which is only titled with a disarray of emojis and symbols plays a brilliant role to break up the album, almost standing up between the tracks as a science fiction wonder only to be followed by the military-esq chanting of ‘Sensitivity Training’ it is almost too long to wait for their next UK gig (14th July, Seabright Arms). The question resides on how well can this become a live stage reaction. There is every confidence in that the compositional talent put into i’ve seen a way can surely be transformed, but that’s best to be experienced yourself live, can recording processes from caves, crypts and local shopping centres make it to the big stage from your headphones. Pensively, we hope so!