Mila Mila - Dream About The View

​Mila Mila

Dream About The View
​self-released; 2022

3.9 out of 5

By Dino DiMuro

Mila Mila is a Portland-based four-piece group inspired by ’90s bands like Hole, Pavement, Duster and My Bloody Valentine. They liken their sound to slowcore, shoegaze and alt-country. Lead singer and guitarist Taz Coffey hails from Texas and “brings a touch of twang to the band’s dreamy, drone-y instrumentals.” Olive Baldwin and Ethan Bear both play bass, with Shawn Bolker on drums and a couple appearances by lead guitarist Brendan Nagle.

The band’s evocative press release states: “With its sharp musicianship and coolheaded demeanor, Dream About The View is the type of lo-fi find that justifies a hundred lesser Tascam dirges. Made up of established local instrumentalists from jazz, metal and experimental backgrounds, Mila Mila transmutes the fire of their instant-cult-classic live performances into understated (but no less impressive) indie rock on this release. Dream About The View offers the best aspects of moody nocturnal lo-fi while also acting as a showcase for, simply put, a real tight rock n' roll band.”

The album was recorded in Taz’s bedroom using microphones “borrowed” from the Guitar Center and then returned, which is an interesting trick! Mixing and mastering was performed on Logic by Eli Sylla.

“Space Party” is a distorted ball of sound with a beat that threatens to derail at any moment. It sounds like a couple players are up close to the mic while the rest of the band is down the hallway. It’s got a nice chord progression and some simple, catchy melodies. There’s unison singing but I can’t decipher the lyrics. Overall it reminded me of Sebadoh, or Sugar’s hardcore phase. Lead guitarist Brendan Nagle makes his first appearance here. This is one of two songs the band says was “thrown together in the midst of the recording process.”

“Rever” continues the same tack but at a slower tempo. The band states that this track “overlays Taz Coffey’s tripped-out auto-tuned vocals onto a slowcore chug heavily inspired by Duster's Stratosphere.” Again, the vocals are so buried that I’d never know they were auto-tuned, but the jangly chords and inventive melodies are very strong.

“Friends with Denny” is a faster paced sideways alternative track with a vocal that sounds a bit like early Dylan, when you can hear it. The verses have the best recording quality yet, but the choruses slam the VU meters into the red and beyond, which made me realize I should be listening through speakers instead of headphones. This is the second and final track to feature guitarist Brendan Nagle. 

“Slow Return” indeed slows the beat down to a near crawl, with single strummed chords on the guitars that blast into distortion without warning, then come back to clarity a bit dizzy from the switchover. Overall this track has that slightly seasick dubbed-from-a-bad-cassette quality that adds to its charm. “David” sounds like it wants to be a fully produced alt-country song in its dreams, but woke up too early. For these guys this song ALMOST counts as well-recorded, and as the band points out, it features “an instantly ingratiating twangy shout-along chorus.”

​Look, I get that lo-fi is a thing. I have a great grounding in, and appreciation of, that genre. But when the songs appear to be this good, you wish a bit more care were taken with the noise AND the music. That said, I still had fun with these songs and just hope these guys try some different recording techniques for the future, to better showcase their talents.

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