Since 2018, Mildlife have been building a name for themselves as wholly unique figures among Australia’s thriving psych-rock scene due in equal part to having a short and relatively normal band name and to experimenting within the rarely overlapping lanes of jazz-funk fusion and kraut-y space disco. Today they’re announcing that they’ll continue that galactic journey with their forthcoming third album Chorus, which is set to be released on March 1 via Heavenly.
The news arrives alongside the first track “Musica,” which sees guitarist Adam Halliwell putting his recent Italian lessons to good use. “When my Nona passed away, I realized I didn’t really know anything about my culture,” he shares. “‘Musica’ started with ‘Mi da la carica,’ which means ‘Gives me energy.’ Some of the lyrics were written in Italian and then translated back to English a bit askew—almost like writing a song for Eurovision where the lyrics are not quite right.”
The instrumental, on the other hand, feels perfectly straightforward as the near-six-minute recording blends each of the aforementioned genres into an entrancing journey. A similar journey takes place in the track’s Hayden Somerville–directed video, honing in on the song’s android lyricism. “The ‘part machine part human’ elements were so fun to mess around with,” Somerville shares. “Both of those worlds play against each other in a really pleasing way in the song.”
Check out the clip below.
