The new Mandy, Indiana album is titled URGH, which is a satisfying thing to utter in any number of situations, especially this winter. The English-French band’s music matches that energy. On their second album, they translate the intensity of classic industrial and noise rock into more contemporary sonic shapes. Take the track “Cursive,” which rocks with a crisp polyrhythmic energy that balances dancefloor coherence with more freaked-out concerns. And Valentine Caulfield’s vocal style—spoken, yelped, screamed, or otherwise—embeds the music with an undeniable sense of urgency. Recently, we sent over some questions to guitarist and producer Scott Fair. Read the responses, and listen to URGH, below.

What kind of music were you listening to or inspired by you while you were working on URGH?

Scott Fair: Industrial hip hop and film soundtracks mostly.

 

We heard you recorded it at a studio on the outskirts of Leeds? What was the vibe at that place?

Some of it. We recorded drums in Leeds in a big village hall and had to construct a drum booth inside it using baffles/theatre props in order to save time and capture the sounds of different spaces. Time was short so it was a bit stressy but we got what we needed.

Where does the name URGH come from?

We wanted an utterance that summed up our feelings at the time and the state of the world around us. There was a lot of deliberating but this one felt right.

Is URGH a political record?

Valentine sings about many things, including inequalities and injustices throughout the world of which there are no shortage.

 

How did “Cursive” get made? Did that one start with drums?

It always just starts with the best ideas, whether that’s some rhythm that Alex captured on his phone or a bass sequence that Simon has come up with or some kind of production idea. We just end up developing the most interesting ideas, it doesn’t matter where that comes from.

You've said that the band Giant Swan is a major influence on your music. What about them is so special?

Certainly at the start we were looking at acts like them because they made electronic music that felt like it had the spirit of a more traditional band in some way. It had that energy and attitude with this grimy hardware, it felt punk. 

 

This is a pretty general question: How do you negotiate space between noise and rhythm in your music?

Once you’ve spent time balancing those elements it usually feels natural how that relationship should work. It’s a question of whether things feel additive or functional in some way or if it’s just noise for the sake of it. I often use noise to signal a change in structure as a palette cleanser or to add texture. It’s just another instrument really and can be really effective if used well. Rhythm is a bedrock of this album, but we want the project to continue to evolve so it might not always be so foundational.

Your name is a reference to the city of Gary, Indiana, which is also home to the Jackson family. Have you ever been there?

We originally chose that because we were talking about urban exploration blogs when searching for a name and Valentine happened to have seen one about Gary, Indiana. The tonality of the name sounded right to us, but eventually we changed to Mandy, Indiana as we had no personal connection to Gary.

 

What is the proper way to dance to Mandy, Indiana? 

I don’t believe there’s a proper way to dance to anything. It’s a joyous thing to dance however you feel. I’d hope people have the freedom to dance however they like to our music.

(Photo Credit: Charles Gall)