The Mummers - Mink Hollow Road EP

Mink Hollow Road EP

With the band in shock, all engagements were cancelled and a period of contemplation sent the band into what Raissa calls a 'cocoon period' It was during this time that the first tentative recordings for their next EP 'Mink Hollow Road' were created, and after an initial 'darker' direction they eventually emerged with a sound even more lush, joyous and uplifting than before, continuing on from the style they had created with 'Tale to Tell'. The first completed track was 'Call me a Rainbow', about a euphoric feeling of being suspended in mid-air looking down at the world beneath. Raissa herself says this was the first song she was happy with after Mark's death and continuing the themes of 'Tale to Tell', it was again a reaction to reality, and a way of trying to make things better.

'Fade Away' is the second track on the EP, a little-known Todd Rundgren cover from his album 'The Hermit of Mink Hollow'. Raissa first heard it in a taxi on a trip to Miami in 2009 on the way to meet American hip-hop label SRC Records (Universal Motown). She says that the sound of it blew her away and lyrically also it seemed to fit in with all the 'surreal things' that were happening around that time. Paul Sandrone was also a fan of the record, so on their return to the UK they decided to cover it and turn it into a glistening Mummers fanfare. They then titled the EP 'Mink Hollow Road' as a homage to the place where Rundgren wrote and recorded 'Fade away', a valley of pine forests in the countryside just outside New York that to Raissa is curiously reminiscent of the coutryside surrounding their former Treehouse studio.

'Driving Home' the third track on the EP was also inspired by the Miami trip. It was the first track where Raissa felt she had the confidence to orchestrate herself, having learned from closely watching Horwood.

The final three tracks use material started with Horwood in 2009. 'Cherry Heart' was originally written for legendary 80s video director Steve Baron's new Sci-fi series 'Slingers' (still in production). The idea is about a girl who wakes up in the 23rd century not realising she's a robot. It invokes the 'Rat Pack' swing sound of the 1950s with a modern edge.

'Your Voice' uses the original sound of birdsong from the Treehouse with a frail vocal reminiscent of the 40s and 50s.

Ironically 'Stuck in the Middle' was originally written for a friend of Raissa's whose boyfriend had committed suicide.

Mink Hollow Road was released in Jan 2011 on 'Big Bass Drum' to great acclaim, with many reviewers claiming that The Mummers had made a triumphant return to form. After only one live performance at the Jazz Cafe in London in June 2010, a UK tour was put together for April 2011. In February the single 'Fade Away' (released on Feb 8th) was playlisted by BBC Radio 2.

The Mummers have also embarked on a number of orchestral remixes of other artists' tracks, including the American bands The Black Keys, Passion Pit, and French Horn Rebellion. An album of these is being considered for the future.