Album Review: Mint Condition - 7

Album Review: Mint Condition – 7

Posted On: April 6, 2011
Posted By: odeisel
Comments: 2

By Odeisel

Mint Condition has cultivated a rabid following and a few hits over the years by adhering to the principles of well-produced, well-sequenced and well-played music nuanced by real life lyrics and soulful yet secular delivery. Their album 7 is more of the same, great music played by a dope band, talking grown people talk.

The album is synth heavy in the tradition of Mick Murphy and The System, with intricate arrangements, buffered by funky basslines and guitars. The album opens with “Can’t Get Away,” a time-honored song about the woman that you can’t seem to get away from even though you know better. The slow-synth groove is muddled in low end distortion and guitar driven emotion. It bleeds directly into “I Want It.” The concert-style movement goes from finally losing that old baggage to meeting that new girl that you can’t get your mind off. The song emotes that infatuation with newness with pulsating synth, bumping drums and an ugly bass that rocks.

The melody slows on “Walk On” as lead singer Stokely Williams wonders why all his relationships end the same. He realizes the pattern of letting women control his life and now he just wants to get out of the rain. 808’s bump on the decidedly less dense “Mindslicka.” The production is much more open and fluid, while continuing chick analysis; putting the onus on some lecherous woman that slicked him into falling for her.

“Caught My Eye” takes a simpler approach, beginning the cycle over with supermarket check-out pimping and the hope that this time the ride will be different. The track has a Tony Toni Tone feel to it with the vocal arrangements. The crew takes a break for an island infused, steel drum based “Bossalude.” There are no words but it is relaxing and a breather from all the rangy relationship girl talk that permeates the first part of the album.

The title track, “7,” is disjunctive, with elements of Hip-Hop introduced that deviate from the core feel of the album. The song serves as their calling card, going through their resume and giving new listeners a jumping on point. If you know the band’s strengths, this track is easy to overlook. An interpolation of “Impeach The President” with some bass on top and organs beneath power “Ease The Pain.” The target of affection this time is the single mother with two jobs and the dead beat baby daddy and the remedy is a dose of me. It seems the group has decided to be the “Mindslicka” this time around.

Analog pianos and organs power the sparsely populated “Unsung.” The gospel arrangement and the female vocal add the perfect touch of soul as the group speaks to those mothers and local heroes that sacrifice so that others have a chance to succeed and grow yet go unheralded. “Not My Daddy” speaks to that aspect of relationships where our domineering natures tend to take over because we want what’s best for our partners. Often we’re unaware of how this chafes our significant other.

The album closes with “20 Years Later,” a powerful song that speaks those whose own selfish instincts have them frozen in time. When they finally wake up, desperate to change, they call on everything they can in order to progress.

7 is more of the Mint Condition that you know and love. They show their range by switching between the analog and the digital, and the entire album is musically solid. Listening to songs vacillate between meeting and losing women is slightly onerous but the music carries those moments. It’s enough to make you want to see them live when they come to your town. That’s where they hook you for life.

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