With the release of their debut EP, 2016’s Ultraviolet and their full-length debut, 2021’s Only Ever, Tucson-based shoegaze/dream pop outfit Mute Swan — currently, Mike Barnett (guitar/vocals), Prabjit Virdee (bass, vocals), and Gilbert Flores (drums) — quickly established a swirling, densely layered take on psych rock that some critics and others have compared to Of Montreal and Soft Bulletin-era Flaming Lips.
2021’s Only Ever was released to praise from The FADER, Merry-Go-Round Magazine and several others, as well as airplay on KEXP.
The band recently signed to Hit The North Records/Wooden Tooth Records, who released the Tucson-based outfit’s latest single “Hypnosis Tapes.” The new single is the first bit of new of material from the band since their debut album — and is part of a batch of material that will be posthumously released after the tragic death of founding member Thomas Sloane.
“Hypnosis Tapes” features Barnett’s breathy delivery ethereally floating over a woozy soundscape featuring glitchy and swelling electronics, fuzzy, acid-tinged guitars paired with relentlessly driving four-on-floor. While still drawing from shoegaze, “Hypnosis Tapes” may arguably be the most Brit Pop-leaning track of their growing catalog to date.
“We had only approved the final mix of this song weeks before when we lost our best friend and guitarist, Tom Sloane. It is the first of a collection of his last songs we felt especially determined to give a proper release into the world,” the band’s Mike Barnett says. “Displaying some of his best textural guitarwork, this song is about finding some kind of inner peace through the noise of chaotic times and endless mental chatter. There’s a meditation tape sampled at the end, as well as a vacuum cleaner in reverse at the beginning (an inside joke of ours).”
Directed by the band’s Mike Barnett, the accompanying video for “Hypnosis Tapes” features the band’s three surviving members hanging out in someone’s living room. Virdee and Flores are busy fiddling around while Barnett strums his guitar and sings. And it’s all set in trippy kaleidoscopic filters, which sees the members melt and morph into one another.
The new single and video comes on the heels of the Tucson-based band playing opening slots for Horse Jumper of Love, Wednesday, Tanukichan and Peel Dream Magazine, as well as a set at this year’s Levitation Festival. The band has big plans for next year, so be on the lookout.
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