Originally online December 2015
Released : March 23 2015
Mini Mansions returned earlier this year with their second album ‘The Great Pretender’. After the 60’s-pop-flavoured self-titled debut of 2010, the LA group traded surreal lyrics and snaking melodies for a more darker tone. A moodier sounding record and one that they describe as about “love, death and existentialism”
Having received critical acclaim for this follow-up which features guest spots from industry legend Brian Wilson of Beach Boys fame, and cooler-than-cool head monkey Alex Turner. The 11-track record blends indie-rock, psychedelic-synth-pop with a little something else entirely.
Opener ‘Freakout!’ sets the tone with a chorus of “I’ve been down” repeated in falsetto against a very newwave backdrop. ‘Death Is A Girl’ follows – with a thumping beat and eerily 80’s synth-melody. The lyrics tell of living life on the edge – “death is a girl and she’s only one dance away” – of those who live fast and die young.
But a stand out track, of course, is the very catchy ‘Vertigo’, which features a brooding verse from Arctic Monkey’s Alex Turner who talks of a love affair featuring catsuits and sunsets – all over a funky backbeat.
But why is it so good? Besides the famous names they can drop, there’s an eccentricness, an inventiveness to the record. Its sad and its happy and its poppy – and there’s nothing pretend about that.
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