Band
»The song structures are catchy without being pleasing. In terms of content, Mahendra manage to decipher emotions from a bird's eye view - and get closer to themselves and us.« Musikexpress
»Intimate insights, free of irony or other shields. [...] Definitely already one of the most exciting new german discoveries this year.«
Neølyd
»expansive, outreaching, always in time, but anything but plain. And the [...] academy is on fire!«
Sonic Seducer Magazine
The trio's sound springs from a foundation of German-language “Diskurspop”, hyperpop and indietronica, the academic stamp behind it bearing the signature of the Hamburg and Düsseldorf schools. The officially homeless construct no longer relies solely on guitars, but creates a sprawling sound cosmos of electronic sound expeditions and brute synth pads.
In the beginning there is noise and fragments. Bell-clear post-rock guitars echo through the rustling thicket of MAHENDRA's debut album "Partikel". A cold, distinctive voice sings of the smallest anatomical stirrings amidst repugnant circumstances, accompanied by harsh synths and analogue drum machines. At times, the Czech wasteland, where a large part of the album songs were created live, has left its cool minimalist traces. The album sees itself as an analysis of temporal states and emotions, it is about the smallest reactions of the body - psychological and physical. The songs create a distanced view of the individual and describe emotions with documentary sobriety. Macro shots of technologised processes contrast with each other and are made tangible. The idea that complex processes and moments are decoded through their contrasts and abstraction runs through the entire album, both musically and lyrically.
MAHENDRA maintain this tension between microscopic observations and exuberant expansiveness live through lush soundscapes and organic visuals that draw you into the very core of ourselves. MAHENDRA are emotion through emotionlessness. Closeness through distance.
lukas streich, björn tillmann, robin plenio
2023
2022
Mannheim Zeitraumexit
Bochum Goldkante
Mannheim Zeitraumexit
Hamburg Astrastube
Berlin Zeitraumexit
Köln zum scheuhen Reh
Berlin Privatclub
Duisburg Stapeltor
Münster Trafostation
Stuttgart Cafe Galao
www.mahendra.de