As casual as the arrival of Herba Mate‘s new two-tracker 7″, Boogie Mouse/Sì è Lei, and the accompanying video for its A-side has been, one might almost think it wasn’t the Italian trio’s most substantive outing in a decade. They dropped a single in 2016 as well, but the Faenza-based rockers shared their Early Shapes (review here) split LP with Fatso Jetson in 2014, and, well, that was 10 years ago. Welcome back, Herba Mate.

“Boogie Mouse” brings a willfully choppy garage rock groove and leaves room for the sax at the end, while the organ-laced “Sì è Lei” fuzzes up a 1966 original by Italy’s The Blackmen, reminiscent of its era in its chorus while not diverging from the fullness of its production. As heralds of a new full-length, Bolide, reportedly in the works for later this year, I find both cuts to be a fitting reminder of why they were such an easy band to dig to start with.

It’s probably a no-brainer if you remember their debut, 2009’s The Jellyfish is Dead and the Hurricane is Coming (review here), and something of a re-introduction for the rest, plus righteous, attention-grabbing artwork for the platter and video. So maybe a no-brainer across the board, then. Fair enough.

Full stream from Bandcamp at the bottom, this from the PR wire:

We have released for Record Store Day Italia a 7″ printed in 300 numbered copies (lim.edt.), published by EDIG, a beat label born in 1960, together with Casa Del Disco, a long-time running record store based in Faenza (RA).

The 7″ features 2 songs: the hit single Boogie Mouse which will be included in the upcoming album “Bolide” (planned for autumn/winter) and “Sì è Lei”, a song written by the cult beat band The Blackmen and released in 1966 by Edig.

“Boogie Mouse”, on side A, is an uplifting rock song, “that could have been released by an imaginary band with member of Queens of the Stone Age, Black Keys and Royal Blood.”

The videoclip has been designed by illustrator Davide Bart Salvemini, also author of the album cover. check it out here: https://youtu.be/iOzixUfcPCw?si=OqRP2vchpQlfsxUR

“Sì è Lei” (reading “C.L.A”, “Yes, She is”) on side B, is Herba Mate version of a song by the cult band The Blackmen, published by the Italian beat label EDIG in 1966. Here you can get the energy of MC5, feel a psychedelic atmosphere like Tame Impala, reminding of Procol Harum thanks to the keyboards Farfisa and Hammond played by the well-known Nicola Peruch.

The songs were recorded at the studio “L’Amore Mio Non Muore” in Forlì with sound engineer Franco Naddei, and were mastered by Giovanni Versari “La Maestà”.

You can hear the single here: https://open.spotify.com/intl-it/album/3IfqcsYgNZ6BHMUdZx5m8n

From April 20 the 7″ will be
– on sale in every italian record shop distributed by Audioglobe
– on Bandcamp: https://herbamate.bandcamp.com/
– on Discogs https://www.discogs.com/seller/casadeldisco_italy/profile

Herba Mate are:
Andrea Barlotti: el. Guitars,
Ermes Piancastelli: drums & percussions,
Alessandro Trerè: el. bass / bass VI & voice

https://www.facebook.com/HerbaMateBand
https://www.instagram.com/herba_mate/
https://herbamate.bandcamp.com/

Herba Mate, “Boogie Mouse” official video

Herba Mate, Boogie Mouse/Sì è Lei (2024)