Mint Mind

A moody mélange of garage rock, indie, vintage electronics, and Krautrock influences, Mint Mind are a German band led by American expatriate Rick McPhail. Describing their work as "heavy music for nerdy people," Mint Mind's music is structurally simple but complex in its moods and sonic palette, and their debut album, 2014's Near Mint, put their guitars upfront as they delivered songs with plenty of wit but a dark undertone. Though the guitars still dominated 2020's Thoughtsicles, the melodies took a sulkier turn and the arrangements took on heavier textures, and 2023's VG+ was their most densely layered effort to date, with masses of electronic sounds woven in with the guitars. Mint Mind founder Rick McPhail was born in Biddeford, Maine in 1970. Hoping to launch a career in music, McPhail relocated to San Francisco, California but in 1993, he decided to try his luck in Germany, living in Wuppertal and Cologne for a few years before he settled in Hamburg in 1999. McPhail had better luck in Europe than he did in America; he co-founded the band Venus Vegas, who issued a pair of albums, 1997's Bring Me the Head of Johnny Marr and 2001's Gold. Despite settling in Germany, McPhail wrote and sang in English, which would carry through to most of his future projects. In 2000, late in Venus Vegas' run, he started working for the popular German indie band Tocotronic, initially as a roadie and instrument technician. After Venus Vegas split and the band became aware of the extent of his talents, McPhail became a full member of Tocotronic, playing guitar and keyboards with them starting in 2004. In 2006, McPhail introduced his side project Glacier -- aka Glacier (Of Maine) -- who crossbred dark shoegaze and goth influences with acoustic guitars and keyboards; they issued A Sunny Place for Shady People in 2006 and Above and Beside Me in 2010. While still busy with Tocotronic, McPhail introduced another project in 2014, Mint Mind, with Frank Stöckling on guitar and backing vocals and Sven Janetzko on backing vocals. Their debut recording was a cassette-only release, Near Mint, which was written, produced, engineered, and mixed by McPhail, and two years later, it was reissued on vinyl by Deadwood Records. Given McPhail's busy schedule, it was not much of a surprise that a second Mint Mind album didn't appear until four years later. Thoughtsicles, released by the Upper Room label in early 2020, introduced a new edition of Mint Mind, with McPhail accompanied by Christian Klindworth on guitar and Tim Wenzlick on drums. Thoughtsicles featured ten songs on LP, while the CD edition expanded it to two discs with an additional 18 tracks. McPhail struck a deal with Tapete Records for the third Mint Mind record, which arrived relatively promptly in November 2023. Boasting a richer variety of sounds and a more atmospheric tone, VG+ featured drummer Friedel Viegener, who'd replaced Tim Wenzlick in the lineup.
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