After three long years of finding their voice, Mirage Wave releases their timeless debut 4-track EP "The Last Sunset You Will Ever See." Forming in 2017 with Alexandra Gray and Noely Gonzalez under a different name, they had the goal of forming an all-woman band. Adding Maria Flaherty on guitar and former drummer Haleigh Stilton (now Steve Austad). After finding what Mirage Wave is best at, they conjured up a brilliant EP showing the entire sound spectrum of rock music. With Mirage Wave's intro track "I Hear the Lunatic Singing Too", they start the EP with a bang. With bright electric guitar and quick-moving drum patterns, the track is already at a surreal atmosphere just within seconds. As Noely Gonzalez's vocals take the forefront, the track takes a fun-loving alt-rock turn from dreamy background vocals to Alexandra Gray's deep and groovy bass line. Mirage Wave brings warm west coast imagery through their finely sculpted instrumentation and a sort of blasé, been-there-done-that attitude. Taking a hard-hitting turn towards their second track "Supreme Summer," beginning with scorching electric guitar from Maria Flaherty, and deep throbbing drums from Steve Austad. With an up-tempo and high energy intro, we can't help but feel the confidence and delivery of strong standing female rock groups like The Beaches, Hole and L7. Not to mention Mirage Wave's intent of addressing reoccurring feminist issues, they energetically touch on misogyny in "Supreme Summer" that seamlessly radiates power. Moving on to the third track "Nothing Happens Here (Only the Ordinary)," Mirage Wave takes a mid-tempo turn with this track. Opening with ear-pleasing electric guitar melodies and an underlying rhythmic bassline, bringing back the been-there-done-that attitude. With vocals that explain routine and getting tired of the same old things, we can't help but relate heavily to this track since we're all on an ongoing routine as well. With feel-good alt-rock instrumentals, "Nothing Happens Here (Only the Ordinary)" evens out the EP perfectly. Reaching the end of "The Last Sunset You Will Ever See," EP, we're met with the outro track "Wolves (For Emily)." Taking us back to blistering rock instrumentals and powerhouse female rock vocals. This track's instrumentals are a bit different, sonically splitting into two parts. With the thrilling first half full of groundbreaking rock, then moving into a deep dark bassline and textured drum patterns. As the scorching electric guitar begins whaling overtop, they end off 'The Last Sunset You Will Ever See' EP just as they started it, with heat and power. Take a listen to what Mirage Wave has crafted up, as their EP is one that'll stand strong.
Be sure to listen to the 'The Last Sunset You Will Ever See' EP here.
Hey Mirage Wave, welcome to BuzzMusic! We’re really getting down with the variety of atmospheres and vibes you provide on your EP “The Last Sunset You Will Ever See”. Seeing as it’s your debut release, how do you think the EP serves as an introduction tool to who Mirage Wave is?
All: Thank you BuzzMusic for having us! We’re glad you enjoyed our first EP. It was a lot of hard work and countless hours in the studio trying to get everything right and we are very proud of our work. We got a great response to it from our fans and friends! This EP is the best representation of us individually. We all listen to a variety of music and very influenced by different genres. We started this project with a clean slate, in terms of no one had a clear expectation of what the band would sound like. We didn’t either, to be honest, but whatever riff or musical idea we had, we just went along with it and added on with their idea. If it was sounded completely different from the last song, we didn’t mind. So long as we liked it. We didn’t want to limit or pigeon hole ourselves with one sound. We want our audience to explore our songs as well.
Speaking on your EP “The Last Sunset You Will Ever See” as a whole, Mirage Wave goes from hard-hitting rock to more of a feel-good alt-rock vibe. Are there any favorites that Mirage Wave has off the EP? For any reason at all?
Alex: My favorite song is a tie between “I Hear The Lunatic Singing Too” and “Wolves”. Lunatic is such a fun song to play, it always reminds me of New Order and Noely’s vocals are amazing. “Wolves” just slaps, and the ending bit always goes over well live. Maria’s solo during the last bit is just a killer. Noely: Personally, I enjoy “Nothing Happens Here”. I like the sound of it musically and adding the somber and melancholy lyrics that come with it. It’s the perfect mix. I’m very proud of this song.
We’ve heard that Mirage Wave strives to be a voice for female empowerment and ongoing feminist issues. During your track “Supreme Summer” off the EP, you touch on misogyny as well. Could you elaborate on the songs overall message?
Alex: I wrote the chorus after seeing a bunch of shitty terfs on Twitter misgendering a murdered transwoman of color. Someone wrote, “It can’t be a woman if it doesn’t bleed”. Like, this woman was murdered because she was a woman, and they don’t care about her because she was black, and she was trans. To boil down an entire gender to whether or not you get a period is just so demeaning and wrong. The hypocrisy of using misogyny to defend “real” women.
Seeing as your EP “The Last Sunset You Will Ever See” channels different aspects and sounds of rock from across the spectrum, did Mirage Wave endure any difficulty when creating the EP? How did you overcome these issues?
All: The music part was easy to be honest, despite the songs being so different from each other. We would say getting the tone for each song was the challenge overall. We had to approach each song with a different mindset. A reset if you will. Each song had its own distinct idea of how it should sound i.e. adding guitar tones, distorted vocals, loud drums. In the end, all the songs came out better than our expectations!
What can we expect to see from you throughout 2020? All: We still have plenty of songs in our catalog that we’ve played live but haven’t recorded. Another possible EP or album is in the works! If luck is on everyone’s side, and when we are all cleared, we are looking into playing shows in the future. We are so amped up to play with our friends. Thank you so much BuzzMusic! Rock on!
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