MENTAH, the 90’s alternative emo indie rock power-duo, has unveiled their highly anticipated second full-length album, “Empty“.
The album, released on April 9, 2024, is a great follow up to 2022’s “Everyone Hates” and IDIOTEQ-featured “New Beginning“, showcasing their evolved sound and introspective lyrics, capturing the essence of their journey from childhood friends to seasoned musicians.
“Julián and I (Kar) have been friends since we were 9 years old. This album is about us and the things that have happened to us, from when we met as children until now.. It talks about how, without realizing it, as we get older, worries gradually take over the good things, and how difficult it is to deal with that.” – comments the band.
Produced, recorded, and mixed by Fernando Mejuto at La Cortina Roja and mastered by Justin Perkins at Mystery Room Mastering, “Empty” is a nostalgic journey through the ups and downs of lifelong friendships, personal fears, and the noise of modern life.
Each track delves into different emotions and experiences, from the joy of childhood bonds to the pain of loss and the struggle to find peace in a hectic world.
We have teamed up with the band to give you the full story, track by track, below!
A special 12” version of album is available now via Radix Records.
Basement
This song is about how I met Julián in school. I was new and didn’t know anyone, and Julián welcomed me along with other kids who are still my friends today. The song is about those first friendships and how intense it was to form those initial bonds. The final choruses are a nod to our teenage band, “Krusty,” where all our songs had similar choruses.
Misunderstood
This song explores fears, especially the fear that when things are going well, they might one day change. It’s a sad song with a touch of optimism at the end. It’s one of our most intimate songs, and over time we’ve become less afraid to play very slowly and with calm atmospheres.
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Friends
It starts with a clear guitar, three very indie rock chords, and a question in the air: “How long have we been friends?” This song reflects on lifelong friendships, the ones that should last above all else. However, without knowing why, one day the flame goes out, and what was once intense and beautiful seems forgotten. How can you run into someone on the street with whom you’ve shared such important moments in life, have such an intense friendship, and just say hello and keep walking? The song ends with very intense guitars and drums and phrases meant to remember those past times we can’t understand how anyone could erase.
My Way of Being
A very simple song, it starts with a drum with ghost notes that might remind you of reggae drums at times, three open notes, and generally quite a bit of silence around. The song is about exactly that: the noise in our heads, not knowing how to handle everything around us, social media, living in a hectic society. We try to keep a bit on the sidelines, but it seems more and more like an impossible mission. It’s hard to keep your head free of everything without a constant background noise.
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Busy
This is perhaps the most different song from what we usually do. The arpeggio at the beginning is also very indie rock, and the vocal melodies have a different cadence and tone. In this album, we explore different atmospheres; it wasn’t something we sought out, it all came about naturally. The lyrics are just about a glance at an airport, watching people with their suitcases, imagining where each of them is going, and those kinds of things. I think it’s a game we’ve all played at some point.
These Days
This song is about a specific moment in my life that I’ll never forget. For others, it might have a more open meaning, and we like that. It’s not a very explicit lyric. For me, these are words that define a specific time and images that my mind will always keep alive.
Unfair
This is the most special song on the album for us. Once again, we use a slightly different vocal tone from what we used to do, darker, spoken, and in a lower tone. We wanted it to be like that and to gain intensity throughout the song. It talks about loss, in this case, Julián losing one of the most important people in his life, his thoughts during such a difficult process. This entire album is dedicated to that very important person for us who taught us so much.
Vulnerable
If someone had told us some time ago, when we played in punk and hardcore bands, playing short and fast songs, that we would have a song like “Vulnerable” lasting 7 minutes, we surely wouldn’t have liked it. But today, we believe that nothing is superfluous; it had to be this way. We talk about many things in this song: forgetting, putting aside the bad things, feeling alive despite everything, and being aware of how vulnerable we are, acknowledging it and thus enjoying the good moments. The entire final development of the song was recorded in one go. The lyrics were somewhat improvised in the studio; they had to be sung in one take, feeling each phrase with the intensity the song demanded. That’s what we did, and we’re very happy with the result.
Catch MENTAH live at Aguiño (Ribeira) on 18.05 @salarealdbs and in Vigo on 1.06 at El Contrabajo with Sanny and Feed the Pet.
