Miami psych-rock collective MOLD! have dropped their hotly anticipated album NO SILENCE! Like an ecstatic rallying cry, NO SILENCE! erupts with a fervent scream for perseverance. Written about the band’s founding member and lead vocalist, Carlo Barbacci’s move from his home in Lima, Peru to Florida — NO SILENCE! also tracks his emotional journey to start anew stateside; a move that has since paid off given MOLD!’s explosion on the South Florida music scene and earned them a prolific following.
A few minutes into the band’s first LP, it’s not hard to understand why. On NO SILENCE! Barbacci and company offer a defiant protest against the existential hang-ups of everyday life, powering their resilience with their signature raucous gusto. And this dynamo is kickstarted by the thunderclap of crashing percussion and electrifying riffs that explode over album opener “VIOLENCE!”. Out of the zig-zagging screech of blistering guitars, Barbacci’s wails emerge to an ominous soundscape that gushes with his anxiously triumphant lyricism.
It’s a visceral opening, one that sets the stage for the rest of the album’s unifying ethos against the kinds of things – like violence – that can shatter us and separate us through fear. On the morose rollicker “MAYBE I’LL SEE YOU LATER,” Barbacci cuts deep with his dark musings. “I hate to say this…Memories fade! We won’t be ok!” he concedes against an otherwise cheery duel of rubbery guitars lines.
Then there’s the driving-rock of “I CAN SEE THE GHOST!” a breathless sprint of pummeling drums and glowing riffs that crescendo rebelliously alongside Barbacci’s piercing shrieks. On every track of NO SILENCE! MOLD! manage to find some small bit of tinder in your distressed soul and exploited existence to ignite. Whether it’s the eponymous title track’s manic chant that “There’s no silence!” or the spacey, cautionary transmissions of “WAIT! (we die slowly),” MOLD! find the weak spots in our psyche, the unseen parts of us that break first when the world exerts pressure, and obliterate them through a beserk and near mad capacity for hope.
“YOU’RE BEING LIED TO” sums up the album’s cathartic but dismal ruminations: “I am singing away, cause i’m being lied to,” Barbacci croons, delivered over the anthemic jangle of noisy guitars. Armed with their raucous garage-rock antics and infectiously fuzzy hooks, coupled with delirium-soaked and ever galvanizing wails, NO SILENCE! is an earnest appeal to dance and sweat-out the existential dread we find ourselves sodden with in life.
“The music in this album is meant to take you to happy places, nostalgic places, and dark places within the psyche. We want the listener to be reminded of who they are,” Barbacci said of the album. “We want the listener to really embrace the chaos, the nostalgia, and happiness that is heard in the music. We want the listener to get in touch with their most hidden feelings.”
NO SILENCE! is out now. Visit MOLD!’s website, Facebook, and Instagram to stay updated on new releases and tour announcements.
Listen to MOLD!’s debut album NO SILENCE! below!
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