London experimental art-rock outfit MOHIT have announced their forthcoming debut album ‘Preface’, produced by Marta Salogni (Björk, Liars, The Orielles, Alex Cameron etc) and due for release 1st May. They have also shared a brand-new single from the album, the hypnotic ‘Steady Evil’ alongside an accompanying video.
An emblem of song creation through improvised moments, ‘Steady Evil’ showcases the trio interacting with their more vulnerable side. Lyrically connecting mindless media consumption (going down a YouTube tunnel in a daze of non-eventual monotony), the song’s sonic palette drifts through lethargic spaces to mimic the sentiment. “Steady Evil was intended to tell a story of indulgence in disconnecting from reality” said Toby Baxter.
He continues: “The video for Steady Evil illustrates the sentiment of the song; going down a YT tunnel in an effort to learn to be your most unique self, but only resulting in forming generic points of view. The heavy use of screens as lighting represents how these devices shape the way we see the world today…a dim monotone that depletes distinguishable elements. This theme is further emphasised with shots such as the screen reflection in the eye, again representing how this media consumption is replacing our individual point of view. The shots of the outside world, generic in their nature, elude to the protagonist attempting to venture out of this hole – only to find more monotony, compounded by the overlay of the buffering wheel, which we spend hours staring at, waiting for something new.”
Shortly after releasing a limited 7″ single in late 2018 (Racek / Discover Another) and a second 7″ in July 2019 (Yoghurt / Reggaeezer), the progressive trio toured in the UK with Ought and Omni, including a Rough Trade East instore show. They now return with their first full length, an intriguing and transcendental body of work, that takes as much influence from the concept of musical and artistic connection between humans as it does the music and art itself.
Originally formed by Toby Baxter (Guitar/Vocals) and Danny Brooks (Drums/Vocals), and later joined by Jack Daley (Bass), the band honed their expansive sound in London after migrating from the seaside town of Bognor Regis. Their musical influences range from the prog elements of My Bloody Valentine and Broadcast to the dramatism of 19th century composers such as Eric Satie, Wagner, Mahler and Liszt. ‘Preface’ is an example of how MOHIT expertly collage different concepts together to create a whole. The band reveled in the challenge as they endeavored to create something coherent from their otherwise shared “weirdness”, as they call it.
A deeply personal sonic exploration, the nine tracks that make up ‘Preface’ were borne out of improvisation sessions and a shared need to create something that was both outwardly challenging yet intimate and meditative. To MOHIT, this approach to composing music allows them to be pseudo-passengers on the journey, trialing ideas with a determination to let the music itself inform their collective performance.
The three-year period taken to put together the album allowed the band to gain a sophistication within the creative process, allowing them to express their individual mental states within their work. In this way the songs are formed from the collaboration of the personalities of each band member, and the album acts as a journal of their individual and collective growth over this period. Notable support slots with the likes of The Murlocs, Wooden Shijps, Nothing, Yonatan Gat, Vaadat Charigim, and The Parrots, have given them plenty of opportunity to finetune this indefinable sound over this time.
https://smarturl.it/MOHITPreface
