It’s been a while since any new music from 3Mind Blight came my way, though that might be my fault for not searching it out. No matter, it’s here now, and that’s all that matters. And the reason why I’m glad that it has found its way to me is that 3Mind Blight’s music says a lot about the changing face and future potential of contemporary music. Love Game, the latest release featuring Nathalie Miranda, is no exception.
In a previous era, Love Game would be a blues song; it has the passion, depth, honesty, and integrity you associate with that genre. But the fact that those urges and inclinations are wrapped up in a blend of brooding understatement, which slowly burns its way into dark, incendiary rock, is what repositions the song, generically speaking.
But there is more to the story, as the song also seems to skirt around urban sounds as quickly as it does dip its toes into the sonic waters of metal, at least in intensity, if not necessarily using the same building blocks.
And let’s take a minute to contemplate the vocals that sit on top of those beguiling sounds. Firstly, 3Mind Blight (aka Mike Boucher) lays out his trademark troubled and tragic-sounding caustic growl, which hangs heavy on the minimalist opening bars of the song. And then, Nathalie Miranda explodes into the music, a polar opposite, the opposite that attracts the sonic crescendo to his dark lulling lows.
There is a lot here that you will recognise; the fundamental building blocks of music rarely change. But what is different is how 3Mind Blight puts those pieces together to build his new sonic architecture. In the hands of other artists, Love Song would be a blues song or a metal song, a rap number or a dark alt-pop missive. In the hands of 3Mind Blight, it is all these things at once, not quite any of them. Welcome to the post-genre world.
