The final track of Babyshambles‘ 2013 studio album Sequel to the Prequel is something of a hidden gem. Tucked at the very end of the tracklist, ‘Minefield’ begins with a somewhat unsettling steady bass march that soon cascades into one of the album’s most powerful moments, as frontman Pete Doherty loops on repeat the song’s gloomy mantra: “My mind is on the run.”
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCYvygiNnSM]
‘Minefield’ was supposedly written in an improvisational style by the whole band during a thunderstorm, which makes sense when listening to it as the quiet, broody verses crash into a cataclysmic chorus that sees Doherty’s drawling vocals howl against tumbling percussion and a haunting guitar melody. As a closing track, it’s chilling in all the right ways; as simply a track on its own, it’s surely one of the band’s more underrated songs.
Words by Samantha King