[Cover photo credit to Kenzie Pigman]
New Zealand-based Pop band Mild Orange will be releasing its third album, Looking For Space, on February 11th. The band will also be touring in 2022, hitting North America in February. Looking For Space was recorded in six locations across Aotearoa, New Zealand over the course of a year, and it’s also Mild Orange’s first time using a real studio. According to the band, the album is “a sonic journey about navigating life, always finding room to grow, considering outlooks and maintaining belief in oneself as we choose our paths”.
Midway through recording the album, frontman/Producer Josh Mehrtens, came down with pneumonia and pleurisy and the experience not only changed the perspective of the rest of the record, but of Mehrtens’ life. He comments: “That put me into some pretty dark spaces. But I’m an optimist, so I was searching for the beauty in the dark.”
He wrote lead single “This Kinda Day” while recovering, as he explains:
“A storm was battering the coastline of Oākura and I realised that the turbulence eventually passes and is a requisite part in growing, shaping and maintaining the balance on the beautiful beach – like us”.
Fittingly, Mild Orange spent chunks of last year surveying and recording in far-flung parts of New Zealand, embracing isolation as a route to deeper connection. Lead guitarist Josh Reid says: “Out there, on the beach, with a paddock of five horses just out the window, we could make as much noise as we liked.”
North American Tour Dates:
2/16 – Brooklyn, NY – Baby’s All Right
2/18 – Toronto, ON – Baby G
2/19 – Chicago, IL – Schuba’s
2/23 – Oakland, CA – Starline
2/24 – Los Angeles, CA – The Roxy
2/26 – San Diego, CA – Soda Bar
