Mandy, Indiana – I’ve Seen A Way

There was an advert when I was a kid. I won’t say the product’s name, you probably know it, but the tag line was: ‘Good things come to those who wait’. While this should be a mantra for life it also fits Mandy, Indiana’s debut album. Since emerging from Manchester’s potent music scene in 2019 the quartet have been busy working on new songs and their live show. These songs now make up their debut album ‘I’ve Seen a Way’. The album is a powerhouse of distortion, mangled melodies and stories of inequality, petty grievances and a hatred of late-stage capitalism. The quartet is made up of Valentine Caulfield, on vocals, Scott Fair, guitars, Simon Cattling, synths, and Alex Mcdougall, on drums. However, the band is greater than the sum of their parts. The music is broody, aggressive, sensual, charismatic and, at times, devastating. At times it sounds like organised destruction. After ‘I’ve Seen A Way’ finishes you feel like you experienced something… rather than just listening to it. 

‘The Driving Rain (18)’ sounds like a re-work of John Carpenter’s seminal theme from ‘Assault on Precinct 13’. The bassline is furious, unrelenting and, most importantly, catchy. It gets logged in your psyche like a ragworm on a finger. Over, under and through, this catchy cacophony field recordings of rain, squelching synths and distressed vocals fight for your ear canals. ‘Peach Fuzz’ takes more of a techno route, than the industrial soundscapes that proceed it. The end results are the same. Aural apocalypse. Again, those killer melodies are present. This makes ‘Peach Fuzz’ more than an experimentation in abrasion. Instead, its something, that played at the right place at the right time, could get a dance floor dancing. The album closes with its strongest track ‘Sensitivity Training’. Sounding like a brutalist version of John Williams’ ‘Imperial March’ it carves out a deep trench. One that you have to leap of faith to cross, or leaves you stranded where you are. 

What ‘I’ve Seen A Way’ does really well is keep you on your toes. You aren’t sure what is coming next. It’s surprising, but oddly delightful. A downside to the album is due to its levels of ferocity you can’t listen to it a lot. Especially back-to-back. However, when you do play it, the memory is hard to shake. Good things do come to those who wait, even if they aren’t expecting them. 

7/10

Words: Nick Roseblade