3 out of 5

Label: Comedy Minus One

Produced by: Steve Albini

Over several EPs and a couple albums, I’d been struggling with what, exactly, Mint Mile’s deal was. Is it a collective centered around Tim Midyett – an enhanced solo project? Is it a side gig, fiddling with stray ideas? Is it a rotating cast of Americana appreciators, ebbing and flowing into different styles? 2024’s Roughrider finally gave me what felt like a more solid version of the band, and even if I had to accept that this post-Silkworm project wasn’t necessarily in my aisle, I appreciated that the group had found a groove, and that they were good at that groove.

But I’m kind of back to being confused on andwhichstray. Or rather, instead of sitting with their (to my ears) more realized identity and rocking with it – bettering it – the group has maybe relaxed too far into the groove, evolving into a dad rock version of an already dad rock band. I mean, the opening song sounds like they’re aping Bob Dylan; followup Brigadier sounds like the kind of generic Americana that was being chugged out post O Brother Where Art Though in the early 00s; Yamaha is like a Silkworm cover band.

Tim Midyett’s media copy is, as always, nicely emotive about what was behind the album, and there’s definitely an exhaustion in the mix that I can kind of follow into this more “traditional” sound. But it’s a bummer when I felt like there was room to grow, and instead the group kind of… withdrew. Not that andwhichstray is an isolated sound – especially with Albini’s roomy, boomy production (one of his last recordings), and Midyett’s passionate vocal delivery, always elevating lyrics that read somewhat humdrum but feel stirring and deeper when sung – it’s just a very, very safe sound.

There are highlights where the group pushes thing to newer frontiers, primarily in the album’s back half: Black Road is a more ballsy and post-rocky than the group has done before, and Summer’s Mostly Wasted is a pretty delightfully weird, Flaming Lips-adjacent jam. The Jason Molina-penned Can’t be the First One is very sad, but it needed more room to really hit its mark; still, it’s a nice inclusion on the more interesting B-side.

Again, if Mint Mile has been entertaining you thus far, I don’t think my take will sync with yours. This is still good stuff that hits the marks the band has been hitting. …Except, that’s kind of my point: take the polish the group has been developing, and apply it to their most straightforward tunes. If that sounds like a win, maybe this is your new favorite release from the band.