Album Review: “Going Going Gone” by Mild High Club

As a fairly well-established band in the indie world, Mild High Club has taken this opportunity with their new album to branch out to a different sound and experiment with their music even more. For those of you who are already fans of them, be prepared for something entirely different from what you know about them.

This album is a pretty stark turn from what Mild High Club has released in the past. For one, it is a much more instrumental album than their previous ones. The type of instrumental music also differs quite a bit from their previous work, creating more of a jazzy relaxing feel than their usual upbeat psychedelic instrumentation. One main difference is that this album is mostly instrumental, with a few tracks like “Holding on to me” that feature basic vocals laid overtop the music. The opening track “Kluges I” is entirely instrumental and sets the jazz tone for the rest of the album. The next track, “Dionysian State” is my personal favorite, carrying the same jazz tone with some more funk added into it and the use of synths to add even more texture to the song. This song is less instrumental than other tracks on the album and has a more upbeat feel than other songs that could serve as really nice background music while studying. One such track is “Dawn Patrol.” Being entirely instrumental and in the middle of the album, it serves almost as an interlude and is a perfect song to mindlessly chill out to. Other tracks like “A New High” and “Me Myself and Dollar Hell” are more reminiscent of their older stuff, with more affected vocals and percussion as one of the more prominent sounds in the songs. They also feature more guitar in these songs rather than synths or traditional jazz instruments like some of the other tracks do.

While I’m not typically a fan of jazz or funk, I did enjoy this album and I think fans of Mild High Club would really enjoy it as well. It is fairly different from their older work, but some of their classic musical staples can still be found throughout the album, making it seem like not as big of a departure as it would without those accents in it. This is a great album to listen to in the background while cleaning, doing homework, or just chilling on the couch. Upbeat and classic, I think that overall this was a good album and a great addition to Mild High Club’s discography.