Folk-jazz twins Millie and Joe of The Mist Calls have a remarkable ability to turn the natural world into storytelling, and ‘Words Are For Later’ offers an idyllic splash of bossa nova sunshine from its opening notes.
Guitars initially echo one another before drifting into counter-melodies, transporting us from a 1920s jazz lounge towards a 1950s slow-samba feel, with Joe’s flute and perfectly placed percussion adding layered warmth. Alongside this, the duo’s trademark harmonies are anything but simple; complex, woven vocals add another carefully considered layer.
Lyrical images of rolling seas and a “sea of dreams” create something wonderfully cinematic, the melody gliding with a tranquillity that occasionally belies the questioning beneath. Nature becomes a way of exploring something altogether more human: our ambitions, pressures and whether sometimes we need to simply ‘be’ rather than constantly ‘do’.
As Millie’s violin joins the guitar for the closing moments, we’re left floating somewhere between reflection and escape.
