Mint Julep - Broken Devotion (2016)

On their second album Broken Devotion, Portland-based duo Mint Julep instill their lush and gauzy, synth-centric brand of pop music with a raw and powerful emotionalism. The follow-up to their 2011 debut Save Your Season (praised as "melodically sophisticated and dreamy" by the NME), Broken Devotion came to life over the course of four years, with Mint Julep reaching a new level of lyrical precision while easing into more lavishly textured, intricately layered arrangements.Throughout Broken Devotion, multi-instrumentalist/producer Keith Kenniff (also known for his work as ambient indie-electronic act Helios) and his wife Hollie Kenniff (Mint Julep's vocalist and lyricist) explore the many bright and dark dimensions of love, a tension that's masterfully embodied on the album's title track. Urgent yet ethereal, "Broken Devotion" blends driving rhythms and hazy guitar tones as Hollie's hypnotic vocal work achingly captures the unraveling of a romance. Lead single "White Hot Heart", meanwhile, emerges as an airy and shimmering, synth-laced number that's timeless in melody. Also featuring a gorgeously sprawling cover of When In Rome's late-'80s new-wave hit "The Promise", Broken Devotion finds Mint Julep shifting from the frenetic energy of beat-driven tracks like "Incinerate" to the downtempo drama of songs like "Slow Spiral" with an uncommonly delicate grace. "Krautrock-tinged, distortion-clouded synthpop covered in soft blankets of breathy, post-Cocteaus vocals… Just breathe it in."

Tracklist:

01. Small Memory
02. Twilight Still
03. Broken Devotion
04. Slow Spiral
05. White Hot Heart
06. The Promise
07. When You Reach Me
08. Incinerate
09. Murmur
10. Persuasion