United States of Mind is Covenant

Covenant (band)

Covenant is a band from Sweden whose music comprises a mixture between electropop and electronic dance music. The band is composed of Eskil Simonsson, Daniel Myer and Joakim Montelius...

's fourth full-length album

Album

An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

, released in March 2000.

Overview

The album's content finds the band united in a much more mainstream

Mainstream

Mainstream is, generally, the common current thought of the majority. However, the mainstream is far from cohesive; rather the concept is often considered a cultural construct....

 state of mind than any of their previous outings. For the most part, Covenant's typically harsh, staticky blasts of audio have been significantly smoothened out, flirting with the simple repetition of dance-pop on tracks with minimal lyrical content, and when present, lyrics often portray much more personal themes — with greater ambiguity — compared to the hostile manifesto

Manifesto

A manifesto is a public declaration of principles and intentions, often political in nature. Manifestos relating to religious belief are generally referred to as creeds. Manifestos may also be life stance-related.-Etymology:...

s of mankind

Human

Humans are the only living species in the Homo genus...

's reality and the science fiction

Science fiction

Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 themes that pervade their earlier works. Some of the lyrics appear to be about reaching stardom

Celebrity

A celebrity, also referred to as a celeb in popular culture, is a person who has a prominent profile and commands a great degree of public fascination and influence in day-to-day media...

, and the band even overflows with thanks to their fans on the liner notes. Sampled

Sampling (music)

In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically...

 clips of dialogue, also usual on the early works, have been shed entirely save for the beginning of the gloom-bashing track "Humility".

Track listing

1. "Like Tears in Rain" – 5:51
2. "No Man's Land" – 5:06
3. "Afterhours" – 5:02
4. "Helicopter" – 5:44
5. "Tour de Force" – 4:46
6. "Unforgiven" – 4:43
7. "Humility" – 4:35
8. "Dead Stars" (Version) – 4:50
9. "One World One Sky" – 5:01
10. "Still Life" – 6:49
11. "You Can Make Your Own Music" – 4:33 (a silent track, in reference to John Cage
    John Cage
    John Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, music theorist, writer, philosopher and artist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde...
    
    's song "4′33″")

Travelogue

Travelogue was a bonus disc for United States of Mind. The tracklist is as follows:

1. Fuzzy Logic - 7:15
2. Humility v2 - 5:08
3. Alva Myrdal - 5:18

Covers

In 2006 the U.S. Gothic

Gothic rock

Gothic rock is a musical subgenre of post-punk and alternative rock that formed during the late 1970s. Gothic rock bands grew from the strong ties they had to the English punk rock and emerging post-punk scenes...

 Neo-Medieval

Neo-Medieval music

Neo-Medieval music is a term used to describe a variety of styles within modern popular music. A common characteristic of these styles is that they contain elements of Medieval music and early music in general...

/Neofolk

Neofolk

Neofolk is a form of folk music-inspired experimental music that emerged from post-industrial music circles. Neofolk can either be solely acoustic folk music or a blend of acoustic folk instrumentation aided by varieties of accompanying sounds such as pianos, strings and elements of industrial...

 band Unto Ashes

Unto Ashes

Unto Ashes is a musical ensemble based in New York City that incorporates madrigal, folk, and elements of neo-medieval and dark wave. Founded by Michael Laird and Susanna Melendez in 1997, the band has released five full-length CDs on the Projekt label...

covered One World One Sky on their album Songs For A Widow.