Artist: Mint Julep
Album: Stray Fantasies
Song: “Unite”
Label: Western Vinyl
Sugary sweet. Refreshing. Chilled out and bourbon-warm at the same time. Occasionally a band’s name writes the sonic menu description for you.
Mint Julep is the electro-pop side hustle of husband-wife songwriting duo Hollie and Keith Kenniff, the latter of whom records ambient and solo piano music under the monikers Helios and Goldmund.
Though not one of the lead singles off their latest album Stray Fantasies, “Unite” is the track destined to end up on my Spotify most-played round-up at the close of 2020.
Hollie and Keith Kenniff of Mint Julep
Throbbing, metronomic synth notes and lo-fi drum-machine snare hits set the tempo out of the gate. It’s a mostly unassuming preamble, however the song proceeds to blossom and expand like an orchid opening in timelapse photography. Tremulous keyboard flourishes. Then the chorus explodes with the joyous blast of a springtime supernova.
Like a top-down convertible stepping up through a superfluity of gears, the chorus just keeps climbing, ratcheting upward, gaining momentum. Hollie’s vocal melodies, which have been understated up to this point, suddenly open up, all sunbeam radiance and arena-rock, fist-in-the-air transcendence. An alternative universe in which The Killers tapped Hazel English as lead vocalist.
A winged creature not so much burning up in the sun as drinking it through a straw before belting out an iridescent dream-pop melody that could be heard a couple galaxies away.
Drink up.
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[Support Mint Julep by purchasing music and merch on their Bandcamp page. They’ve been donating profits in recent months to Treehouse, a Seattle-based foster-care charity.]
