Mug is the art pop project of Melbourne-based siblings Lily and Sam Harding (also of garage punk outfit Gamjee), who recently released their debut self-titled EP on Tiny Town Records. Written and recorded in near solitude for both Hardings, the pair collaborated remotely to work on these songs, starting with a collection of demos and sculpting them into an elegant and cohesive record.
At first glance, Mug are a world away from the angular and hectic post-punk stylings of Gamjee, crafting a lush and minimalist sound that draws on arty European electronic pop like Stereolab and Australia’s fertile 80s underground scene. But on closer inspection there are more similarities between the projects than you may think. The volume and energy may be dialled down a few notches, but the idiosyncrasies remain.
Indeed, as the band describe in an interview with Trouble Juice, single ‘Brace Yourself’, began life as a fast-paced punk song, before being pulled slowly into the syrupy, vibe-led sound that Mug have committed to. Built on a skeleton of drum machine and floaty synths, the serene atmosphere is grounded with a knotted tangle of electronics and subtle guitar work that feels like a whispered version of Gamjee’s restless unpredictability.
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Opener ‘Loving the Body’ is a typically gentle start, soft pulsing synths like a pillow upon which Lily Harding’s vocals sit. As is the case across the EP, the overall atmosphere is one of tranquillity, although occasional noodling guitars foreshadow the record’s more eccentric moments, a reminder that these are far more than conventional pop songs. ‘An Unsettling Dream’ is as otherworldly as its title suggests, mundane anxieties colliding with a slippery surreal night-time logic as synths loop and bass trundles, while ‘From the Lookout’ has a weird clockwork quality, advancing in jerky rhythms like a stop-motion animation.
‘Sometimes’ embraces Mug’s folkier side, combining acoustic guitar with a panoply of electronic buzzes and blips and whirs, before closer ‘Coffee at Your House’ recalls the blissful grace of Au Revoir Simone. But despite the warm fuzzy atmosphere, it is the moment on the record in which the sense of isolation aches most keenly. The whole thing glistens with yearning, a bittersweet feeling of appreciating loved ones and accepting being cut off from them, at least for now. “I want to come around and sing with you,” Harding sings, “But I know we’re not there, not yet.”
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Mug is out now on Tiny Town Records and you can get it from the Mug Bandcamp page.
