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Mugstar, "Lime"
Following quickly on from last year’s …Sun, Broken…, Mugstar have extended the formula that blew me away on that previous album and have made an impossibly shimmering, psychedelic and, most importantly, rocking album. Lime may not rewrite the history of rock music but it does act like the fruit it is named after, it cuts through the senses in a most pleasant fashion.
 
In a recent interview with Brainwashed, Jason Stoll revealed that a large portion of Lime came together at the last minute in the studio and that sense of immediacy and freshness comes through consistently throughout the album. If you told me this was a live recording of a band in their prime improvising while off their heads on the finest mind altering substances in some remarkable, esoteric location, I would believe you. The excitement, power and urgency of Mugstar’s playing shines through like a supernova; the music is that intangible, that ecstatic.
While the group play together with a tightness that would normally reflect too much polish on something best left with some grit and grain, Mugstar happily retain a looseness that tugs at the center of the balance of the pieces. On "Serra," a motorik rhythm pulses, sounding as solid as a castle (albeit one that seems to be charging along the autobahn). Yet throughout the length of the piece, the band chip away at the foundations and batter the walls with guitar and electric organ, causing the "Serra" to destabilize and teeter. This persistent threat of the whole thing coming down at any moment adds to the danger and thrill of Lime.
By the end of the album, I feel like I should have broken out a sweat as I am caught up in Mugstar’s sweeping music. Along with … Sun, Broken…, Lime represents some of the best pure rock music of the last ten years. As aforementioned, it is not revolutionary music in terms of innovation but the energy being blasted out by the band could easily spark a revolution of its own.
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