Minta & The Brook Trout are an indie folk band from Lisbon lead by Francisca Cortesão. This spring sees the release of Demolition Derby, the outfit’s fourth full-length album. With a turn away from the acoustic style of previous releases, the record sees the band embrace a varied and communal spirit. Cortesão (who plays guitars, keyboards and percussion) is joined by Mariana Ricardo (bass, synths, percussion and other stringed instruments), Margarida Campelo (piano, both electric and acoustic, and synth) and Tomás Sousa (drums and percussion), with each member also lending vocals across the release.
The title Demolition Derby comes from the themes underpinning the songs. Overcome with anxiety and disillusionment with the emergent climate catastrophe, Cortesão found the image of junk cars destroying one another an apt metaphor for our current predicament. Destruction for destruction’s sake, the logical end point of a society hellbent on an ever-growing rate of production. A moment of quick thrill followed by lasting mess.
Lead single ‘Matador’ was the first song written from the record, and is something of the genesis point for the rest of the tracks. “Listening to it now, I realize a lot of the subjects that permeate the whole album were already there,” Cortesão explains. “Artificial landscapes, dealing with the passage of time, self-delusions and disappointments and, finally, an attempt at being okay with a certain degree of inner turmoil.” As the chorus states: “Make your peace with whatever you feel.”
Demolition Derby is out on the 16th April and you can pre-order it from the Minta & the Brook Trout Bandcamp page.
