Manchester-based group
Mandy, Indiana
debuted with a 2021 EP that shaped hair-raising post-punk noise and commanding French-language narratives into bracing industrial dance tracks.
Daniel Avery
provided a gritty techno remix, and kindred spirits like
Gilla Band
and
Giant Swan
took notice -- members of both acts helped mix
Mandy
's debut album,
i've seen a way
. The group recorded parts of their album in unconventional locations, with renegade sessions held in a Bristol shopping mall, a West Country cave, and Gothic crypts. Starting off with a drifting, midtempo synthwave instrumental, the band enters their propulsive, abrasive dance mode with "Drag [Crashed]." Over nervous electronic thumps and searing sheets of feedback, vocalist
Valentine Caulfield
mocks beauty standards and power dynamics, telling a woman to constantly smile and avoid wearing provocative clothing. "Pinking Shears" expresses the exhaustion of living in a world ruled by rich racists. The lyrics to the more aggressive, driving "Injury Detail" read like a play-by-play for a Mortal Kombat-style fighting game. The lengthy, crawling "2 Stripe" begins like a fairy tale but ends up being a violent story of revolution and political justice. Danceable tracks like "Peach Fuzz," a triumphant underdog call-to-arms, are the album's most engaging moments, and much more exciting than the downright disturbing "Iron Maiden," which sounds like literal torture.
clearly make music with the intention to disrupt, confront, and force the listener to question society's ethics, and their first album succeeds at all of these points. ~ Paul Simpson