If the start of the breakthrough for Bambara was the radically reimagined sound of 2018's Shadow On Everything (dubbed by NPR a "western gothic opus"), then the moment it truly arrived was on the cinematically riotous noir-punk of 2020's Stray. In the UK, buoyed by the enthusiasm of 6Music DJ Steve Lamacq (who called the band, "one of his favourite discoveries of the year"), the band rose sharply, immediately selling out shows across the country. Meanwhile, back in their native US, KEXP's John Richards echoed the same sentiment. Things were set. In fact, tickets had just gone on sale for their biggest show to date, a 1500 cap headliner at London's Electric Ballroom. Then...well, then same as for everyone. Shutdown, lockdown, hibernation, nothing. It was a hammer blow. But rather than rue their misfortune, the band desperately tried to turn it into a positive, immediately moving to try to make more, and - they were determined - better, music. The result is the career-high Love On My Mind - a six song mini-album, mixed by Claudius Mittendorfer - that condenses all the energy and darkness that has made Bambara so compelling but rearranges them into something defiantly new. Not that getting there was easy. With the band's core (twin brothers Reid and Blaze Bateh, the singer and drummer, and childhood friend William Brookshire, bass) scattered across the US, they remotely pieced together an EP but as soon as it was finished, they scrapped it. In their words, it felt "dishonest". They were striving for something new and they hadn't hit the mark. They realized they needed to change their approach so at that point they decided to reconvene in New York. Finally, things started to take shape.