Automatic

Description

When Mildlifes debut album, Phase, was released in 2018 it didnt so much explode on to the scene as ooze. Their mellifluous mix of jazz, krautrock and, perhaps more pertinently, demon grooves, was the word of mouth sensation of that year among open minded DJs and diggers searching for the perfect beat.

Their emergen ce was backed up by European tours that demonstrated a riotously loose limbed approach to performance that was every bit as thrilling as Phases tantalising promise. What was more impressive was how lightly they wore influences that took in Can, Patrick Ad ams and Jan Hammer Group, while primarily sounding precisely like Mildlife.

By the end of 2018 theyd been nominees for Best Album at the Worldwide FM Awards (Worldwides Gilles Peterson was a notable champion) and won Best Electronic Act at The Age Music Victoria Awards back home in Melbourne. Their progress post Phase was cemented with a UK deal with Jeff Barretts Heav- enly, who released How Long Does It Take? replete with Cosmic doyen Baldelli and Dionigi remixes, while last year they were officially a nointed by DJ Harvey when he included The Magnificent Moon on his Pikes compilation Mercury Rising Vol II.

With Automatic, the band have made a step change from their debut. Its more disciplined, directional and arguably more danceable. As on Phase, the y are unafraid to let a track luxuriate in length without ever suc- cumbing to self indulgence. The arrangements, tightly structured thanks to Tom Shanahan (bass) and Jim Rindfleishs fatback drumming, permit space for the others to add spice to the stew, to pped off with Kevin McDowells ethereal vocals as Mildlife effortlessly glide between live performance and studio songwriting. The recorded songs kind of become the new reference point for playing the songs live, says Kevin. They both have different out comes and we make our decisions for each based on that, but theyre symbiotic and they both influence each other. Its usually a fairly natural flow from live to recorded back to live.

With the current climate as it is, opportunities to take this album o ut into the live arena where the band truly come alive, might well be scant, but they are working on ways around this. We were hoping to visit new places with this album but thats required a bit of rethink. We have a lot more videos planned for this year and well be doing shows in Australia when things re open but its still all just wait and see for now. One things for sure, post lockdown will be one hell of a party.

The centrepiece of Automatic is the title track where the band sound like Kraftwerk and Herbie Hancock on quarantined lockdown in Bob Moogs Trumansburg workshop. Its both a departure and quintessentially Mildlife. This is music you can dance to rather than dance music and its all the better for it. Bill Brewster