Mien

Mien is a psych-rock collective drawing members from the Earlies, the Horrors, and the Black Angels, with influences ranging from Conny Plank and Nico to George Harrison. The project’s origins trace to 2004, when Elephant Stone’s Rishi Dhir—bassist, sitar player, and keyboardist—joined Alex Maas of the Black Angels, then performing with the Brian Jonestown Massacre, for a South by Southwest appearance. Shortly afterward Dhir teamed with the Earlies’ keyboardist John-Mark Lapham, and the pair found common ground in their admiration for the Association’s sitar-laden psych-pop number “Wantin’ Ain’t Gettin’.” Efforts to reinterpret that track evolved into a long-running partnership that finally took shape as Mien nearly ten years later, once Dhir and Maas linked up with the Horrors’ keyboardist Tom Furse amid the latter band’s 2012 Skying tour. While they kept refining the Association cover, fresh original material surfaced, yielding Mien’s debut single “Black Habit” in early 2018. The self-titled album followed that April on Rocket Recordings.