We spoke with Mystic Tea Party about “The Looking Glass” and more!

Hi! So, let’s start with the vibe—“The Looking Glass” sounds like a late-night spiral in a dreamscape hotel bathroom. Was there a specific moment or memory that inspired that mood?

A:It’s funny, we rarely ever go into a song with a clear intention for how it should sound. Through the production process, we just explore what feels right, and as things come together, we start to lean into whatever vibe is emerging. With The Looking Glass, it ended up having this kind of spooky energy, and since the lyrics are also quite raw, we thought it was a beautiful coincidence how well they complement each other.

This track feels like it leans more into electronic and cinematic territory than some of your earlier work. What drew you into that darker, more experimental space sonically?

A: I think since this is our eighth single now, we’re really starting to find our sound more. We’re finding everything more – our aesthetic, our vibe. And it’s definitely getting darker. It’s still really important to us to have diversity in our music – we don’t want to pigeonhole ourselves into one specific sound where all our songs end up sounding the same. But we do want everything to have that dark, MTP edge. And also that cinematic aspect we kind of want in all our songs. People always say they can see our stuff in movies, and we’d love for that to actually happen one day!

Your lyrics in “The Looking Glass” feel really raw and introspective. What headspace were you in while writing them, and how did that shape the emotional tone of the song?

A: The lyrics are definitely some of my (Blume’s) most personal work. I was in a really confused headspace, struggling to recognise myself – thinking about how past versions of me would look at who I was in that moment. It’s a song about mental health struggles, which I write about a lot… hey, they say write what you know! Haha. But instead of the classic ‘I’m a wreck and everything’s falling apart,’ it comes more from a place of self-awareness and uncomfortable growth.

The concept of not recognizing yourself in the mirror is so haunting. Was that metaphor always part of the writing process, or did it evolve later?

A: Taking myself back to the moment I wrote it (it was a while ago now) but it was one of those songs that just kind of fell out of me. The mirror line came from me reflecting on where I was at in that moment. But honestly, I don’t think I thought too deeply about the whole mirror concept until later. We didn’t actually call it The Looking Glass until it was much closer to its final form.

There’s a strong thread of 90s trip-hop and industrial rock woven into the track. Were there any artists, albums, or sounds that crept into your inspiration while making this one?

A: Quite a number of our songs have that trip-hop vibe to them, and we didn’t actually intend for that to happen when we first started making music. We were just blending the sounds we both liked, and it ended up being kind of trip-hop adjacent. The industrial rock element, though, was a new addition for The Looking Glass. We were experimenting, not really thinking too hard about it, and then we were like, ‘this bit kinda sounds like Jane’s Addiction’ or ‘this reminds me of Nine Inch Nails.’ So yeah, I guess some of those influences came through subconsciously – because that’s where you create art from, right? Not so much a ‘let’s make it sound like this.’ It was just another happy accident.

If “The Looking Glass” were a scene in a film, what would it look or feel like? Is there a visual or cinematic image you always associate with it?

A: It would look and feel like falling into a portal into another reality. Whatever that means to a person. 

Does this track feel like a standalone world to you, or is it connected to a bigger story you’re telling with the upcoming EP?

A: It definitely part of a bigger picture we’re slowly sewing together. I won’t give too much away, but let’s just say there are two distinct threads running through what we’re making. The Looking Glass follows one of them. When it all unfolds, it’ll make sense… hehe.

You’re known for mixing vulnerability with surrealism—how do you balance those raw emotions with the more abstract, dreamlike qualities in your work?

A: I don’t really think of it as balancing the two, they just sort of exist together naturally for me. I often find that the more abstract, dreamlike elements give me a safer space to explore raw emotion. It’s like telling the truth, but through a rippling pool of water… distorted enough to feel magical, but it’s still honest? I guess that’s where the songs live, somewhere between feeling and fantasy.

And lastly, when fans hear “The Looking Glass” for the first time, what do you hope they feel—or confront—in themselves?

A: I mean, we hope they hear it and think, ‘This song fkn slaps!’ LOL. As for what they feel personally, I’m not hoping they confront anything in themselves – unless that actually feels good for them. When you put out a song, it ends up meaning something different to everyone. So I guess I just hope it means something to them, whatever that is. That they can take it and build their own meaning around it.