Inception to Mixdown: Mint Field take us further into Quiero Otoño De Nuevo

Mexican psych duo Mint Field dazzled us with their new single Quiero Otoño De Nuevo last week. The track’s cosmic rhythms and harmonic overtones had us transfixed for the duration and left us keen to know more about its creation. Thankfully, Estrella Sánchez and Amor Amezcua were on hand to reveal all, ahead of their intimate show at The Eagle Inn, Salford later this month.

What planted the seed for Quiero Otoño De Nuevo and inspired the direction you took with the song? Did the track originate from a riff or melody and how quickly did the composition materialise from that initial idea?

‘The song was born out of a bassline that Estrella made up and it was constructed based on this, it was easy because we hadn’t really thought before making the song, it wasn’t intentional. “Quiero Otoño” is one of the newest songs in the album and I think it is closer to the new Mint Field sound, or maybe not. Who knows. But we strongly feel identified to the song.’

Pasar de las Luces is described as “a compilation of our lives from two years ago to now” – where does Quiero Otoño De Nuevo fit into that chronology and is its subject matter something that is pertinent to both of you?

‘Quiero Otoño’ is a very fun song, with lots of rhythm and we really like to play it live. Since it is one of the newest songs, I believe it closes a chapter for us, it is much more like to the music we play nowadays. It feels grown up and with a more consistent sound.’

Rather than recording at home, you worked with producer Christopher Koltay in Detroit to create the record. Which studio were you using and did the environment/equipment alter the sound you achieved on the track?

‘We recorded it at High Bias Recordings and yeah it did alter the recording process and the final output as we literally had all the equipment we had dreamt of. But sincerely I believe that it was more excitement and inspiration to be there that altered the sound more than the equipment, it was easy in that aspect. The song was finished at the studio.’

Listening to the bass guitar that introduces the track, is it a phaser providing that slow-filtered effect, and if so what model?

‘Estrella recorded all the basslines in the album, so she is responsible. We used a phase 90 from MXR.’

The track has a tremendous spacious quality; do you achieve that ‘in the moment’ with pedals and performance techniques, or is it something you focus on more in post-production, when the initial recording is laid down?

‘All the ambients that are heard on the album and this song are exclusively from pedals and/or synthesizers. We did not add any ambience in the post-production, there really isn’t a lot of post-production on the record.’

Does the final master resemble what you envisaged when you first wrote the track or is it drastically different?

‘Not at all, obviously when you hear the final master after the mix you realise that everything has its own time and place and you can manage to distinguish all the sounds. But at the end, it is the same song.’

Can we expect to hear Quiero Otoño De Nuevo as part of your live set when you play in Manchester?

‘Of course, it is one of our favourites live.’