Single Review: Mold “You Are Being Lied To!”

Within the first 30 seconds, the vibe you get from “YOU ARE BEING LIED TO!” from the band Mold! is very clear. It feels like a warm sunny day, but not the leisurely stroll you’d take, or it doesn’t last long if it starts out feeling that way. You feel a vibe that comes with a weighted pressure and an increasing distrust of others and your own thoughts as the band walks us through the thought process of pushing someone away.

BANDCAMP: https://mooold.bandcamp.com/releases

The lyrics echo with a thick reverb as it echos from ear to ear, and truthfully some of the lyrics are hard to make out, but it’s par for the course with this kind of indie-soft pop. It’s not about the lyrics completely, although what’s here is strong and open-ended for plenty of interpretation which I like. Depending on who’s listening to it, I can see countless people attaching their own baggage to it and that’s a clear sign of what kind of personality the song has that shines over it. It’s somewhere between a mood piece and something that people can listen to with friends or by themselves and have a strong emotional feeling provoked. For me, it reminded me of the kind of exhaustion you feel when dealing with someone even if you care about them. The kind of perpetual tug of war of emotions that no one wants to just own up to.

When the lead singer voices his frustrations and wants the other person to stay away, you know internally he’s fighting with himself and it’s compelling as it is entertaining. The band as a whole is incredibly impressive and has a strong presence. The video that also accompanies the song builds on the kind of dreamy, neon lava disorientation that the song carries with it. An Avant grade aesthetic that almost seems to poke fun at itself and certainly feels like it was made with care but an almost “we have no money, but we’re having fun” feeling to it. The band is conventionally unconventional with some great riffs and chemistry amongst them that you get an instant feel of who each of them is. It should also be of note that the video is just funny. Watching these kids ostensibly put together and over the top backyard wrestling ring that’s a metaphor for working out a friendship is kind of an ingenious idea.

AMAZON: https://www.amazon.com/You-Are-Being-Lied-To/dp/B094YMQY71

The group and their associates have an immense amount of expressive imagination and I hope they keep this up with their subsequent releases. There’s even a touching post-credit at the end which sees the two major leads rekindling their friendship and the purity it evokes almost feels like a slam against the cynical nature the video and the band might have had up until that point. I hope that in some future releases they maybe tone down the reverb because the lead singer’s voice is incredibly compelling and the lyrical work is quite fantastic. We aren’t being lied to, this song is just great.

Loren Sperry