Mint Field Interview: Return to the Light
Photo by Adrianna Tangassi
Take a look at the cover for Mint Field’s debut album Pasar de las Luces: two eyes, everything else obscured by black. It’s about how much the then duo of Estrella del Sol Sánchez and Amor Amezcua let you in, creating mere moods with instrumental expanse, letting whatever image the music conjures up to the listener. Then, look at the cover for their recent EP Mientras Esperas: a photo by photographer Adrianna Tangasi, taken by a lake in San Diego, reveals much more even if from afar: the now trio, including touring bassist Sebastian Neyra. Likewise, the music, including its composition and structure, is much more clear, despite increased levels of distortion. The message resonates: This is the new Mint Field.
The Tijuana-based band–a mix of shoegaze, dream pop, and krautrock–has seen tremendous growth over the past few years. When they were recording their debut, Sánchez and Amezcua had barely picked up their instruments. They slowly learned to play as they toured, and the songs on Mientras Esperas originated from soundchecks and were written last year between tours, recorded in mid-October in Los Angeles. As radically different as it sounds from Pasar de las Luces, according to the band, Mientras Esperas is a mere transition; they already have demos for their next album, which they’re hoping to record this summer and release either later this year or early next year.
I spoke to the band from Mexico City, the day before they played the 10th anniversary of Festival NRML. They’re about to embark on an East Coast and Midwest tour with California indie band Film School, which includes a stop at the Empty Bottle on Sunday. Read our conversation below, edited for length and clarity.
Since I Left You: Is the title of Mientras Esperas (“while you were waiting”) a reference to something like, “While you’re waiting, here’s something between the debut and the next album”?
Estrella del Sol Sánchez: Yeah, it could be something like that. But I also think it’s a reference to waiting for something to happen. It could be music, it could be anything.
SILY: When did you realize you wanted to make Sebastian a permanent part of the band?
ES: He was playing with us since May of 2017, and it was just very natural. We just started touring at that time in Mexico. Last year, we were touring a lot, so we were playing almost every day. With him, we have a special connection playing. We were like, “Yeah, of course, why not.” He’s an amazing bass player and musician. He was a very nice contribution to the band.
SILY: What exactly do you think he brings that’s different than you had before?
ES: Amor and I taught ourselves how to play. We never took lessons. At the beginning, we were just figuring out how to play instruments. He has a more clear idea on how to settle down songs. He’s a very good musician. He knows how to take the song to another level. I feel like sometimes that’s what you need. It’s not that you can’t do it, you just need someone to push you to do better things. He was that person.
SILY: When I read that you had just recently learned how to play your instruments, I was amazed. Pasar de las Luces definitely doesn’t sound like that. It is very aesthetically definitive, though, and Mientras Esperas is more varied.
ES: I think the EP is supposed to be like that. I feel like it’s this step to get to the next record.
Amor Amezcua: It’s like a new phase in us. We want to experiment with new sounds we’ve learned. This EP, we wanted to do a transition to the next LP we’re gonna release. We already have songs to the new album.
SILY: A song like “Jardin de la Paz” sounds like it could be on the first album, but “Ella Se Queda” has much more of a groove and is much more fuzzy and rock-oriented than anything on the first album. And “Vamos Rapido” is very folky.
ES: I think it’s important to say that most of these songs, especially the first two, were made during soundcheck. They reflect how we sound live. I think Pasar de las Luces is a very studio album. To be honest, I don’t think it sounds like that live. It has a lot of layers and is spacey and ambient. This EP is very live.
SILY: What’s the inspiration behind the album art of Mientras Esperas?
AA: We wanted to of course face it, that this is the new face of Mint Field, so we thought it would be important to appear on the cover. “This is the three of us, and this is how we sound.” It’s something we haven’t done, and we didn’t grow up doing that. Especially me, I don’t always feel super comfortable with pictures. The girl who took these pictures is a long friend of mine, and I’ve always thought she’s a very good photographer. She has a very different style than the picture of the EP, but she’s very good. I asked her if she could take the pictures, and she was like, “Yeah of course.” We told her we wanted black and white and a little bit of a nostalgic feeling on the pictures, and she was like, “Okay, yeah.” It turned out very nice. We’re all very happy with the cover. The point is that we were facing what we are and the new us in the cover.
SILY: Have you played the new songs live before?
AA: We’ve played some of the songs on the past European tour. We had a tour with the band Ulrika Spacek in the U.S., and we also played those songs there. We played these songs before recording them live, so we needed to play them more live to figure out how to record them.
SILY: Is there anything you’ve been listening to, watching, or reading lately that’s caught your attention?
AA: I’ve been listening to Mexican bands. These bands who are going to play NRMAL tomorrow. El Shirota. There’s another girl from Panama who is a mix of a lot of countries. Her name is Michelle Blades, and she’s also very good. I’ve been very excited for NRMAL, so I’ve been listening to who we’re going to see tomorrow. I’ve been listening to Massive Attack, also. Boards of Canada, Aphex Twin.
