Weekend Intermission is our regular feature where we look at an artist or band not from the Nordic countries, just to mix things up a bit.
Harrowing, heavy, and almost an audio hallucination, Mandy, Indiana have created a challenging work of extreme power in their second album ‘URGH’. Surely what will be an inspiration for some would leave others reaching for the ‘off’ switch on their radio, and therein lies the raging mastery of the record. It wears its heart on its sleeve. It delivers its message. It bows to no-one.
Here is a brave, visceral work of sonic experimentation. From the predominantly French lyrics coined by singing Frenchwoman Valentine Caulfield to the claustrophobic instrumentation and pulsating violence of the tracks, the album elevates itself to be looked at as an album of peerless execution thus far in 2026.
Over the course of an album in which you can often ‘feel’ the tracks – through discomfort, a desire to move, a physical distress or joy, a sense the 10 tracks are alive and moving inside us – the bravery of the band and its resultant creation can only be admired by those willing to meet them halfway.
‘Sevastopol’ commences with all mechanical buzzing and industrial noise, starts as it means to go on, perhaps waging war on a list of targets and ticking them off as it goes. Previously a single, ‘Magazine’ takes no prisoners, building, popping, and dissipating an audio game. The range on display here is almost beyond belief.
The somewhat mellower ‘try saying’ gives greater access to the band, a wonderful entry point, with its helicopter-like electronics and question mark lyrics, and challenges in a less violent way.
‘Dodecahedron’, a highlight, is by now a surprisingly blissed-out electronic track, the rage having by now given way, albeit temporarily, to something new for the album.
‘A Brighter Tomorrow’ is elegance at first, awaiting an inevitable storm, one that cannot possibly skirt your attention, as you brace yourself for what is to come.
‘Sicko!’ featuring billy woods rapping and some wildly industrial sonics is as magnetic and alienating, all in one fell swoop, as anything on the album. More than marmite in the love-hate stakes, there is much here to revel in, to love, to invite repeat listens.
‘Cursive’ is more of the same and yet not, with its tribal opening, relentless winding nature, and colossal dance floor eruption, and the sole English-language track, the brutally hypnotic ‘I’ll Ask Her’, leaves no stone unturned (scything down anyone with bad intentions) and once again there is that feeling of unease, every last drop of rage poured out before the final seconds fade to silence.
In that silence, one can truly contemplate what has gone before – the music, the message, the pain, and the subsequent emotions. The road travelled, far from being a purely joyful one, has delivered something unexpectedly special.
(Continues after the Spotify link)
Find them on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Mandyindianaband/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mandyindiana/?hl=en
