Mnd Movies

There will come a time when the summer will end. The days will grow almost unnoticeably shorter and there will be a fragrance in the air - almost just a memory - as the first leaf browns, then dies, fluttering to the ground dry and crisp. Passing thoughts of fun times had and as yet un-had will skid across your mind and you will consider unpacking your weekend bag fully for once. But not yet. There's still a little time. What will it be? The Bolt Bus to Boston? Or the Jitney to that friend of a friend's share house out east? The ocean will be cold.

Those summer jams are starting feel a little aggressive, almost dictatorial in their imprecations to dance and have a good time. Something a little cooler is called for, and that's when that download from Stones Throw, still sitting in your DropBox, comes to mind. Yawn something...Yawn Zen - that's it. By Mndsgn. You've heard his slippery electronics in a collabo with Jonwayne on one of those cassettes but aren't sure what else he has to offer.

The first track, Yawn, is more of a question than an answer. Two chords strum back and forth and a little squelchy synth explores the places between, sliding into Homeward with its ticking drums and more querulous chords. Sheets lopes along deliberately, vocals drifting through the mix. What are they saying? Not important: you're into Frugality now, which alternates something almost funky with the inner thoughts of R2D2. Robot dreams. Exchanging is like breathing, which is scientifically accurate. Oxygen in, carbon dioxide out. More vocals, ba ba ba and something about where we belong. Sounds about right. Where else would you be right now? Breathe in, breathe out, exchanging your inside with your outside. Drift off.

Convert brings you awake slightly, with it's half-remembered wisp of a Mount Kimbie groove. No need to move to it, though, you're basking in the Arklite now, glass chimes tinkling and sparkling in the golden rays. Camelblues navigates by sonar, its blip...blip maintaining a steady distance from the shore. There's a sketch of a love song in there, like a dangerous text re-written and then deleted. Commitment...it's so committal. Txt (Msgs) might be the one that gets you up, at least to plug your phone in. There could be a dinner invitation on the way, or at least a call for drinks before that rooftop bar goes under mothballs.

Damn, it's AM. Slept through. Or is that just the name of the song? Chimes tinkle, gentle waves lap the shore, and then you are up, for the Afternoon Shuffle. Open the fridge, some leftover Chinese and an iced coffee. What's new on Netflix? The line of light on the ceiling has grown diffuse and then disappeared as the sun goes behind the building across the street. Zen brings the moment to a close, 12 songs passing in an instant. But what is an instant? And what is a moment? Is a minute different than an hour, qualitatively speaking? Did this day even happen? Ting. There's that text. Companionship and cocktails await, beyond the dusk. You just have to get there.

Mndsgn's Yawn Zen, a "study in the absence of struggle," is out on August 26th, just in time for the last days of summer. Check your Txt (Msgs).