6 June 2022

Band: JUST MUSTARD
Who: Post-punk 5-piece from Dundalk, Ireland

New album: HEART UNDER
Their second longplayer. Order info here.

Press info: “Heart Under is an album that asks you to forget what you know.
At every turn, this remarkable record reconfigures and stretches the ideas and
ambition of a rock band, and turns a year of lockdown and personal struggles
into a breathtaking artistic statement.”

NME‘s verdict: “After being dubbed a shoegaze band on their 2018 debut album, its industrial yet dreamy follow-up ensures the Dundalk five-piece won’t be put in any boxes at all… Since the release of their debut album ‘Wednesday’ in 2018, Dundalk five-piece Just Mustard have been gradually shifting their sound towards something more uncategorisable. Through the singles ‘Frank’, ‘October’ and ‘Seven’ as well as tours with Fontaines D.C. and gigs alongside The Cure, the band’s sound has slowly shifted towards heavier, noisier tones and left behind the shoegaze tag that has followed them around since the release of their debut. On ‘Heart Under’, their second album and first for Partisan, they present themselves as a truly unique gem.”
Full interview here. Score: 5/5.

Turn Up The Volume: I still wonder why, when listening to music (every single day since I was kid), all sort of images can just pop up like that. Like here with this excellent record. From opener 23 on I had a Blair Witch experience with flashes of angst (I Am You / Sore / Rivers), of puzzlement (In Shade / Seed) and of bafflement, actually the whole ride trough. It feels like wandering in that very movie forest at night, having no idea where you are. At times paralyzed, at times besotted by adrenaline rushing through your veins.

The band’s noise-exploring spirit is all over Heart Under. The dazzling combination of spooky guitars, chilling electronics and Katie Ball‘s ghostly voice – balancing somewhere between Zola Jesus and a young Kate Bush – create hallucinatory sensations like if this record was produced by Joy Divison’s wizard producer Martin Hannett. A feel that already hit me a couple of months ago when they were the support act for their countrymen stars Fontaines D.C. in Antwerp, Belgium.

Just Mustard operates between reality and surreality.

Singles/clips: Mirrors / Still / I Am You

– MIRRORS –

– STILL –

– I AM YOU –

Stream/buy HEART UNDER here…

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JUST MUSTARD: Spotify – Facebook – Instagram

(Live photos by Turn Up The Volume)