Following on from their acclaimed 2015 debut Down Time (released on Bedroom Suck in Australia, Fire Records in the UK), Her is a shining jewel of an album. Elizabeth Mitchell’s voice is a thing of unearthly beauty, capable of soaring and swooping in shiver-inducing ways. As a songwriter she is equally arresting, addressing desires and dreams with affecting frankness. In Totally Mild she is joined by guitar magician Zachary Schneider, drummer Ashley Bundang and bassist Lehmann Smith.
In the last few years the band have developed a quasi-psychic intensity, surging forward or pulling back in seamless unison. This intensity has been captured in crystalline form by producer and one-time Architecture In Helsinki member James Cecil. Her is polished and spacious, while never losing the feeling of a band in full flight. After Down Time’s release, Totally Mild toured UK/Europe in 2015, then hit the US in early 2017, playing SXSW and a string of LA/NYC shows. In Australia they have played Meredith Music Festival and shared stages with the likes of Real Estate, Kurt Vile, Best Coast, DIIV and The Chills.
About the new album, Mitchell says “Her is a record of failure and victory, new desire, stale romance, queer domesticity and what comes when the party is over. I was torn between a new domestic life and the impulse to tear it all away with bad choices. I fell in love, but I wrestled for independence. I was always trying to prove that I didn’t need anyone; my wife, my friends, my band. Her is a document of a woman struggling with the idea of potential. We are told that we could be limitless, but we wrestle with unseen personal and structural walls.” Mood rises and falls expertly throughout the album: Working Like A Crow, originally written for a children’s choir, is simple in its self-sufficiency. From One Another is an eulogy for a toxic relationship given the most graceful pop setting. Mitchell’s love for piano balladry is showcased on Lucky Stars, while Today Tonight is kinetic, dynamic guitar pop at its finest.. Across their powerful, delicate, luminous second album Her, Totally Mild move through light and shade with silky finesse…
“A shining talisman for the heartbroken” -
Pitchfork
“Engorged, engaged, empowered bedroom sulk music” - The
Guardian
“Sweet, harmony-rich, pointedly concise jangle-pop” -
NPR
“Skewed pop gold” - Noisey
“An ethereal voice…lovely songs and just-so jangly arrangements”
- BrooklynVegan