Mold! Drops New Single

Mold! is a three piece shoegaze band from Miami, but their founding member is actually an immigrant from Peru. They are one of the more unapologetically irreverent acts to hit the scene, in some time, which is proven by their new single, “I Can See The Ghost.” Mold! is quite young in both the summation of its members respective ages, and their existence as a band. Forming in 2019, Mold! have released a 3 song EP up to this point.  Now they are preparing to release their second effort, which features the previously mentioned, “I Can See The Ghost.”

In some ways, Mold! fits nicely into the new wave of modern alternative bands, who like to shape noise rock into melodic dream pop, with no agenda. What’s different about them is the underlying emotion that seems to drive a song like “I Can See The Ghost”,  and that emotion, quite frankly, is anger. When you read interviews with a lot of modern bands, they tend to downplay anger as a wasted or labile emotion. What these bands forget is that rebellion is a driving force in great art, and anger can be a healthy and productive state of being, if channeled properly. This thought does not seem lost on Mold!, whatsoever, as from the first chords of “I Can See The Ghost” is pensive energy.

“I Can See The Ghost” is a busy track with jangly and high pitched guitar tones, and driving percussion. It doesn’t really feature many dynamic shifts, yet you feel as though you’ve gone on an odyssey by song’s end. The song feels highly alive, ambitious, and sad all at the same time. It has all the uncouth and at times, unpresentable qualities of raw genius, and it never makes an attempt to please you. If this song were your potential love interest it would ignore you into submission, and then curtly acknowledge your existence, before repeating the cycle.

The accompanying video is an eye widening experience, that will possibly make them sore and massage them in the process. In the video that features animations by Bruno Degradi and Tomas Del Sado, we see a woman who seems to resemble Alice from Wonderland fame, in shall we say an entirely natural state. This video, much like, Mold! is bold and probably best suited for a mature audience. Not so hidden within the very adult, but cartoon quality animations, are what seem to be a statement about beauty standards and an indictment of innocence, inverted. The colors you see are comforting and nurturing, but the images upon them are uncomfortable and dare you to keep looking or look away.

Mold! is a band that doesn’t want to be embraced, they want to be heard and felt. They are making music, because a driving force within them threatens to become destructive if it isn’t channeled into something intensely artistic. Even though their sound on “I Can See The Ghost,” seems relatively innocuous, they are not putting their hand on your shoulder, but rather shoving you in the chest. They are daring you to make your move, and do something. They see a world that has grown old, cold, and covered in mold.

Mindy McCall