Mint Biscuit: We Are Sailing; My Favourite Biscuit. Mint: After Eight Mint; Best Of - Live Recordings

Welsh guitarist Richard Thomas embraces to old adage of "go big or go home", releasing a brand new solo EP, We Are Sailing, a Best of... for those who could not keep up with his output, plus a bunch remastered live stuff of with his Uni band Mint and a completists only collection of odds and ends they recorded recently.

The new EP is more mellow than his previous recordings. Thomas is counting his blessings, being in a steady relationship, and going out exploring the hills. His tone is gentle and warm, especially during Late Night, Me And Her and Last Night, She And Him, both augmented with slightly psychedelic vibe. Right now it seems he only has to press "rec" and come up with an instrumental that is going places. All Barr Epstein moves slowly as a nod to the virus that causes mono.

We Are Sailing is a self-released album. Buy it (pay-what-you-want) from his website.

Tracks:

1. E By Gum
2. Enchilada Chill Harder
3. Late Night, Me And Her
4. Jaguar Juice
5. All Barr Epstein
6. Last Night, She And Him

My Favourite Biscuit
People not familiar with his music can make inroads into his back catalogue with the new starter kit, the "best of" My Favourite Biscuit, an album that features 20 tracks.

Mint live then and now
When he was student at Durham University, Thomas was a member of Mint, a rock quintet that played original material next to required covers to appease the famously difficult crowds at student parties. In 2018 they finally re-released Leaving It Late, as a momento for those heady days. A remaster of rough sounding collection of live songs, Best Of Mint - Live Recordings features a couple of the same tracks. Charming, seriously out of key sometimes, but chances are they didn't have the luxury of monitors at their gigs.

The band members reunited recently for a socially distanced jam session, and they picked the best bits for After Eight Mint, working their way through four songs in various permutations. It is a snaphot of a rehearsal that anyone who ever played in a band can relate to.

» Mint Biscuit on Bandcamp

HCTF review of You Want Jam On It?