Album Review: Mina Tindle - Parades

Parades is Mina Tindle's sophomore album. It is made of 12 beautiful and poetic songs, where Shakespeare language subtly meets with Molière's.

Influenced by her Mediterranean origins, Parades is alike Mina Tindle: warm-hearted. It comes right in time to light up these chilled and grey autumn days. It is a touching and well-constructed record that brings varied emotions and invites us to follow Mina Tindle into her beautiful universe.

Here you can hear a live version of the tracks "Pas les Saisons", "I Command", "A Séville" and "The Curse", as well as instrumental versions of other songs.

The album mixes upbeat tracks (Seaside, The Curse), power pop ballads (Pas les Saisons, I Command) and melancholic songs (Taranta, Ta Peau, Madonne).

The LP entices us to go on a cross-country journey. It opens on "Je Sais", a pleasant bilingual cavalcade toward Mina Tindle's universe. The song is about Time and how it flees upon our hands. As it evokes marabout, the opening track will cast a spell on you before you realize it. "Pas les Saisons" follows the same theme; its video-clip brightly makes us dive into the Spanish folklore of corrida. "Seaside" guides us toward the colorful Mediterranean coasts. Musically the song follows the codes of Anglo-Saxon pop with a blend of surf wave, and great bass line. It is my personal favorite and by now I think I know it by heart.

Then the pace slows down to the melancholic "Taranta". The song invites us in the whirl of traditional Italian village dance. It alludes to agrarian work, Christian heritage, cultural practices and prejudice. The song also winks at Mina Tindle's first album, with which it shares its name. It actually was composed two years ago but didn't make it in Taranta tracklist.

"I Command" lures us in a slow intro, but substantially grows into a power pop ballad. It is followed by “Ta Peau”, which brilliantly integrates tropical percussions that, along with the backup vocals, warm up the mood of the song. “The Curse” is more up-beat, it is sustained by a solid bass line and it's very rhythmic. “A Séville” is as mesmerizing and as eclectic as the Spanish town. “Madonne” is more reflexive and introspective; it is turned toward the future.

“Plein Nord” is the kind of amazing song that could feature in a movie-score. When I listen to it eyes closed, it takes me on the cold land of Russia and I picture the ball scene in the 1997 animated movie Anastasia. “Dehors” comes after "Plein Nord" and it is an acoustic track that grows in intensity as the feelings expressed.

“L’Astrakan” closes the record on a slow beat that prolongs our journey in fantasy guided by Mina Tindle’s stirring voice.

If you want to know more about Mina Tindle's creative process, well stay tuned Foxes...