Mind Tides – “Oasis in the Horizon”
Oslo-based psychedelic trio Mind Tides have arrived with the cosmically serene “Oasis in the Horizon.”
Usually, when you think of modern psychedelic music, you reach for Tame Impala, but “Oasis in the Horizon” is a song that seems to reach for different influences. Initially, the bands Meltt, Orions Belte, Glass Beams, and Khruangbin spring to mind. The track has that gently kaleidoscopic, breezy sound that seems to drift around your head, making you think of the desert and all that’s good about psychedelia. But as I played the song more, there were hints of 1990s influences in the music. The Lightning Seeds’ cover of The Turtles’ song “You Showed Me” is there in the slick groove, and even a touch of Kula Shaker, which I’ll come to in a little while.
The song is executed in a confident fashion. Trippy uses of panning conjure the late 1960s, with sun-scorched guitar unfolding from side to side. A steady drumbeat pushes forward inevitably as a funky bass grooves with buoyant ease, compelling you to surrender to the trance of the hazy, immersive textures around you.
This is where we come to the vocal. The vocal is delivered in a breezy upper register, which some people again would want to draw comparisons to Kevin Parker. But the tone seems to sit closer to Crispian Mills from Kula Shaker, who is, of course, another singer influenced by 1960s psychedelia. It’s a performance that prioritises mood. Soft, introspective, devotional. It is a distinctly British psych-rock performance, a timeless style of delivery that we don’t seem to hear very much anymore. It delivers the lyrics with ease as they explore feelings of reaching for something that always seems far away on the horizon.
“Oasis in the Horizon” is mood, atmosphere, something meditative. It is a welcome blast of laid-back desert air. You can imagine the rippling heat on the horizon… that mirage… as you listen to this. This is an awesome track and a tantalising taster of the debut concept album, Inward Waves, slated for release later this year.