Five questions with…. Just Mustard
Photography and interview by Drew Reynolds. Intro by Heather Hawke.
Hailing from Dundalk, Ireland, the five-piece ambitious rock band who intertwines a mind-blowing blend of noise, trip hop and electronic influenced music known as Just Mustard are about to release their second album and first for Partisan Records called Heart Under (out this Friday, May 27). Heart Under incorporates an unrestrained yet cohesive vision: there’s cutting guitars, ethereal vocals on contemplative, atmospheric rock songs which are bound together alongside others that offer up a delicate, celestial touch.
Since forming in 2016, the band – comprised of vocalist Katie Ball, guitarists David Noonan (also backing vocals) and Mete Kalyon, bassist Rob Clarke and drummer Shane Maguire – have been building a reputation as one of Ireland’s most exciting new bands – live and on record. Their debut 2018 album Wednesday earned them huge acclaim in their native Ireland including a nomination for Irish Album of the Year and the band’s first major international strides were made with their 2019 double single “Frank//October,” which landed the band a ‘Song Of The Day’ KEXP feature, a ‘Tune Of The Week’ on BBC Radio 1, and support from both The FADER and Stereogum. This wide-reaching momentum carried over to live bookings, with the band having supported Fontaines DC on their sold-out UK tour and then being handpicked by Robert Smith to support The Cure at Malahide Castle in 2019. Pre-pandemic the band also had festival slots at Great Escape, Primavera, Green Man and Electric Picnic.
Though Heart Under was written in the depths of 2020, with primary recording taking place in Attica Studios in rural Donegal, with additional recording and post-production then completed at home, Katie says she always write about what’s going on inside her head rather than anyone else’s. She says the album is a personal document of a time that doesn’t comment on realities of the outside world. “There was sadness and sorrow in the album, and it felt like being underwater and under something very heavy. We let that influence the music, but it wasn’t a decision –it just naturally happened that way.”
Across its 10 tracks, Just Mustard’s sophomore album, Heart Under is an album that turns a year of lockdown and personal turmoil into a sensational artistic declaration. The band pushed their genre-bending soundscapes further into a new dimension when they brought in mixer David Wrench (Frank Ocean, Let’s Eat Grandma, Jamie xx, FKA Twigs) who had done pop and electronic records and didn’t just work within the confines of rock music. All in all, Heart Under is genre-pushing album that exceeds far beyond conventional structures to make a rousing incomparable sound.
We caught up with the band back in March at Brooklyn’s Union Pool for their first US headline show and asked them to take part in our “Five Questions” series.
Just Mustard’s web/socials: Website – Bandcamp – Facebook – Instagram – Twitter
Take Me back to March 9, 2022. What were some highlights for you as a band that night?
Playing and being in New York for the first time was a highlight in of itself, the silence between songs was very intense that’s the first thing that comes to mind when I think of the show.
What are you most looking forward to the next six months?
Driving across America and also releasing heart under, it’s been sitting for a while unheard so will be really nice to know it’s out in the world.
Where did the band name come from? How did it come about?
Really bad joke that means nothing.
What currently has the band been listening to? Any future releases you’re all looking forward to & why?
We are all currently listening to all sorts of stuff – Dean Blunt, Maria Somerville, Clarke, John Coltrane, Emma Ruth Rundle, Glen Campbell, The Deadlians, Princess Nokia, Lustmord, Junior Brother, Overmono, Luke Vibert. Looking forward to albums coming from Clara Tracey, Kelly Lee Owens, Trick Mist, Blut Aus Nord, Sorry.
If you could have one producer remix “Heart Under” who would it be & why?
The Haxan Cloak could be cool he is so experimental it would be really exciting to see what he would come up with and how far it could be twisted into something new.
