Totally Mild’s “Down Time” is the record Melbourne’s music community had to have. As the dole wave revolution slowly yet surely turns into a distant tuneless memory, Totally Mild release a melancholic album masked by the sweet vocals of Liz Mitchell.
Ears are pricked early in the record on ‘When I’m Tired’. It is a 100-second pop masterpiece with a catchy hook and lovely vocal harmonies that simply has to be heard. Penultimate track ‘Always Around’ is a cute number which highlights Mitchell’s aural acrobatics. It’s short, it’s sweet, and it’s my favourite Australian album of 2015.
Sparse, liquid-like arrangements drenched in reverb and Elizabeth Mitchell’s angelic falsetto are the signature elements making up this excellent debut from Melbourne’s Totally Mild.
It’s as if Best Coast, Camera Obscura and Surfer Blood all broke up with their partners and made an album together. The result is hauntingly beautiful, mysteriously seductive and entirely fascinating. Down Time is unashamedly woeful at points. Mostly the songs presented here are introspective, hopeful-yet-heartbroken ballads sprinkled with Zach Schneider’s melody-complementing guitar and some of the most considered and tasteful drums and percussion heard in recent years. Down Time is slow, steady, contemplative and beautiful.
All songs written and recorded by Elizabeth Mitchell with Lehmann B. Smith: Bass (1, 3, 6), Vocals (8) and Guitar (5) Zachary Schneider: Drums (3, 6) and Yuko Kono: Recorder
The Fat Angel Sings 