\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
![\"MATT](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/4011306_web1_MES-10.jpg\")
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n
MATT HORSEMAN PHOTO<\/p>\n
Drive-Thru Confessional is Mise en Scene\u2019s first full-length release in six years.<\/p>\n
Drive-Thru Confessional, out March 6, is Mise en Scene\u2019s first full-length release in six years following the band\u2019s 2023 EP, Reality Bites. The record is full of hazy, driving guitar and stories about the long, winding journey of growing up.<\/p>\n
While writing the opening track, I Confess, Johnson travelled back in time to imagine a teenager confessing their affection to a crush working the drive-thru window of a burger joint \u2014 a scenario involving many laps to retrieve \u201cforgotten\u201d condiments and pop refills. As with fast food, young relationships are rarely healthy.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou totally would\u2019ve stalked them. \u2018Hi, it\u2019s me again, can I get another coke?\u2019\u201d Johnson says, laughing.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd your number?\u201d Dunlop adds.<\/p>\n
The artists recreated the scene \u2014 sans declaration of love \u2014 while making the album artwork, which required circling the drive-thru of the Junior\u2019s Restaurant on McPhillips Street to get the perfect shot.<\/p>\n
The 10-track album covers a lot of ground beyond the messy excitement of first love \u2014 from depression (Everything in Gold) to breakups (Leftovers) to a road trip with a random dude in a beige Corolla (Beige Corolla). The focus is on lessons learned along the way, not the destination.<\/p>\n
\u201cI picture someone getting in their car and going on all these adventures \u2014 they\u2019re getting in a fight at a bar with some douchebag, they\u2019re getting into a car crash in L.A., they\u2019re hanging out with their friends. Each song is a snapshot of a moment and you can really see yourself there,\u201d Dunlop says.<\/p>\n
The vignettes are specific enough to feel universal, with a nostalgic arc that moves from past to present, innocence to maturity. Drive-Thru Confessional closes with Remember This Feeling, a retrospective song about savouring the ups and downs of those formative experiences.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s so easy to forget these really visceral feelings we have. Art\u2019s job is to remind you of the human experience and to be unashamed of your own travels,\u201d Johnson says.<\/p>\n
The album was recorded in Johnson\u2019s family cabin in Gimli and produced by Micah Erenberg of Secret Beach. The members of Mise en Scene both live in Winnipeg now, but the lakeside town remains close to their hearts \u2014 Dunlop was born there and Johnson grew up spending her summers there.<\/p>\n
A lot has changed for the best friends and bandmates since their last full album, Winnipeg, California, in 2020. Johnson was pregnant with her second child while recording Drive-Thru Confessional and several months later Dunlop found out she was also expecting a daughter.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was a special moment,\u201d Dunlop says of sharing the news.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t MATT HORSEMAN PHOTO<\/p>\n Mise en Scene shot the album artwork for Drive-Thru Confessional at Junior\u2019s on McPhillips.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was so cool to be pregnant with your best friend at the same time, and the person you have a musical journey with,\u201d Johnson says.<\/p>\n Motherhood has created necessary lifestyle and career changes for the heavy touring band. It\u2019s also influenced the reflective storytelling of the latest album and the speed at which songwriting is able to happen.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve got six pairs of little feet we have to watch out for now, everything takes a hundred times longer now,\u201d Johnson says.<\/p>\n \n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n \t\t\tDish<\/p>\n Every Second Friday<\/p>\n The latest on food and drink in Winnipeg and beyond from arts writers Ben Sigurdson and Eva Wasney.<\/p>\n \t\t\tSign up for Dish<\/a><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t Still, music was always going to be part of the equation.<\/p>\n \u201cYou don\u2019t have to just be a mom or just be an artist, but there are challenges and we\u2019re starting to figure out what works best for us,\u201d Dunlop says.<\/p>\n \u201cI also think about our kids and my daughter and I want her to have a mom that she sees doing things that she loves.\u201d<\/p>\n Mise en Scene has no plans of touring for this album cycle, but the band is set to throw an album release party on April 18 at Times Change(d), with backing by Ian Lodewyks and Clinton Giesbrecht. Kris Ulrich, who also released a new record last week, opens.<\/p>\n winnipegfreepress.com\/evawasney<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t Eva Wasney Eva Wasney is an award-winning journalist who approaches every story with curiosity and care.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0 Read full biography<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t Ben Waldman Ben Waldman is a National Newspaper Award-nominated reporter on the Arts & Life desk at the Free Press. <\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Reporter
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Reporter
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n