“I never saw it coming / an avalanche of hardship“: Ian Hooper sets the stage early for Mighty Oaks fourth record, MEXICO, with these opening lines. They are refreshingly honest words indeed, considering we have all spent the past year living under the cloud of a pandemic, which has affected our physical health, mental well-being, and our social interactions. However Ian Hooper, Claudio Donzelli, and Craig Saunders do not wallow in the mire of Covid-desperation and self-pity. Their new record fuses an honest examination of serious issues like addiction and mental health with hope and hymns of love – love for family, friends, partners and for life. Just as we’ve come to know and expect from Mighty Oaks, but this time even more intimate and more personal than maybe ever before in their decade-long career.
