Mint Julep - Save Your Season

Where Keith Kenniff’s underground and vividly eclectic projects Helios and Goldmund have always stretched themselves epically to critical acclaim, side project Mint Julep is a wholly more accessible and less idiosyncratic affair. Formed with his wife Hollie, the couple craft industrial and murky dream pop which is a class above most other musical duos.

Unlike Keith’s other projects, it’s Hollie who takes centre stage throughout. Evocatively ethereal, she patiently waits during ‘Days Gone By,’ (“Rushing through the door into the street / I’m waiting for you to meet me here”) before conjuring colossal juxtapositions (“Someone shoved the sea / In the heavy summer rain / I feel you moving softly / And set me free”) throughout ‘Why Don’t We’. The combination of such vibrant imagery and Hollie’s almost dejected sighs makes the LP all the more radiant.

That’s not to say she’s ‘Save Your Season’s only positive though. There’s a powerful paradox between light and dark throughout. Opener ‘Chasing the Wind Catching The Shadow’s sun drenching shimmer perfectly sets ‘Aviary’s industrial rust up, as it glimmers into the melodic vibrancy of New Order’s ‘Bizarre Love Triangle.’ Meanwhile, ‘Why Don’t We’ and ‘To The Sea’s Euro dance synths pierce and weave like a more venomous La Roux, before the monumental ‘No Letting Go,’ ‘Cherry Radio’ and ‘Stay’ combine M83 anthemia with dotting synths and futuristically angelic harmonies. As Summer Camp cause storms through their own brand of retro pop this side of a John Hughes movie, Mint Julep prove they can do just the same this side of a futuristic James Cameron flick.