Mint – Magnetism

If youve missed Sparklehorse (its been five years since Mark Linkous last release), Mint could tide you over. In the hands of Sparklehorse producer John Morand, Mints opener The Lake sounds like a lost track from Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot. But Morand also produced Cracker, and his jangle-pop credentials come in handier here. Mints pop harmonies soar like Jayhawks, while guitars and choruses evoke Matthew Sweet or Yo La Tengo. Songwriter Erwin Marcisz hangs metaphors in unlikely places. Your Shopping Lists Are Poetry is possibly the last unexplored dimension of that silly stage of love when youd even change your eating habits. Im A Stoplight makes you lonely as a deserted street. Dead Weight feints at alternative-country, but the power-pop tune The Winter Of 1984 and the flat-out rocker Here It Comes Again show mastery of such a range of the American pop vernacular that youd never guess this bands from Belgium.