Time Before Land is the debut album from NYC trio Mushfoot. Named for a pet snail, the band is fittingly insular and measured on this album, with each member noticeably assembling their contributions in a separate lane, that then stack to create a cacophonous but cohesive span of sentimental and expressionistic indie rock. And I'm not just saying that because I noticed the primacy of disunity that runs through the project, but also because the band literally recorded their parts separately in different parts of the city. There are two amazing consciences to this structure, 1) each part sounds extremely distant, and 2) despite this, they manage to intersect like the loops of a pretzel. Separately each part doesn't sound like much, but together they form quite the treat.
Time Before Land sounds like three people, in three separate flats, centered directly on top of each other, heard the music of their downstairs/upstairs neighbors and decided to improvise over it... and then a fourth person elected to record these unwitting collaborations and distribute it as a record (in reality though, I'm pretty sure Moone Records got permission before pressing the record). Combining '60s chamber pop with spastic electro-funk jitters in the vein of Graham Kartna and marrying it to cavernous post-jazz reminiscent of Beth Gibbons's solo excursions and meddling with shoegaze while rerouting old Magnetic Fields grooves, Mushfoot heap together their collaboration like they don't care if a sneeze or a sharp exhale could send it scattering across the ground like an exploded ant hill. It really does sound that spontaneous, unprecedented, and precarious, like a Jenga puzzle supported by a single block at the bottom in an inverted pyramid.
Time Before Land teeters like could tip over at any moment, but through an exertion of innovative willpower, and a pinch of magic, it manages to stay upright and avoid collapsing as a structural enigma.
Time Before Land exists in defiance of gravity itself. Like a winged tightrope walker, the band knows that their act is both a matter of skill and serendipitous provenience that generates steadiness out of peril.
