The Jim Mitchells - Planet Absorbed EP

The venerable label Cardinal Fuzz seem pretty adept at unearthing interesting contemporary grooves, and here they present the stellar debut EP of Sydney’s The Jim Mitchells. The Planet Absorbed EP was originally released in 2016. A new album Love Hypnotic is being released this week.

The Jim Mitchells play garage sound with an abandon matching Ty Segall and White Fence, harkening back to a time of three-minute primordial pop nuggets, infused with pop hooks and overlays of barbed guitar. Think early Velvets, The Sonics and The Kinks for the more lurid expositions of garage cacophony, and Flamin’ Groovies and Brian Jonestown for the diminution of the style to one that favours bubblier melodies and sunnier jams. Hear ‘Mind Reader’ on Planet Absorbed for an example of the latter sound.

All of those influences can be heard on Planet Absorbed. Characteristic of the garage sound is the lack of close miking, and a lot of echo and bleed, and that's what you'll hear. The sound of mono essentially, the drums set way back in the mix, and little in the way of stereo separation. The abrasive guitar sounds literally scouring the surface with white noise, riffing the bar chords loudly but nonetheless clinging to the melody without a hitch.  Punctuated screams accentuating the wildness so much a part of the early garage sound.

It’s not all primordial and crude on Planet Absorbed. Not even close really. On ‘Wanted’ contemporary rock and Beatle-esque songwriting, influence enmeshes in a lovely coda, which is spiritual nourishment as much as it is an enjoinder to dance and nod happily in sync.