Mini Mansions - Mini Mansions
Rating
RIYL
BeatlesBeach Boys
Dios
Bear Hands
Release Date
11/02/2010
Label
Rekords RekordsTracklist
01 – Vignette #102 – The Room Outside
03 – Crime Of The Season
04 – Monk
05 – Wunderbars
06 – Seven Sons
07 – Vignette #2
08 – Kiddie Hypnogogia
09 – Majik Marker
10 – Girls
11 – Vignette #3
12 – Thriller Escapade
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Mini Mansions' self titled debut record is a blast from the psychedelic pop past of the 60s and 70s. The songs follow pop guidelines, there are giant contagious hooks at every turn, the orchestration is lush and the vocals sparkle with accessibility, and this is all a good thing. While many bands stray as far as they can from ever being labeled as pop, Mini Mansions have clearly worked hard at creating a masterful album of twisted, charming, tripped out pop tunes. This is by no means your typical Top 40 material, however, as the Los Angeles based trio take the road more druggy, paying homage to The Beatles and The Beach Boys once the psychedelics had taken hold. While the similarities run rampant throughout the album, Mini Mansions are by no means a clone of their influences. The band’s psych pop revival has one foot firmly planted in the modern landscape of 2010 with noisy atmospherics and sonic layering courtesy of our digital age. The band, comprised of long time friends Tyler Parkford, Zach Dawes, and Queens of the Stone Age’s Michael Shuman signed to Josh Homme’s Rekords Rekords imprint to release their full length debut, a visionary trip from start to finish with a never-ending supply of clever lyrics.
Like many of their influences, Mini Mansions is an album full in scope, a record that actually plays as one solid piece of music helped along by three “Vignettes” serving as segues between tracks. The album opens with “Vignette #1,” a haunting song with breezy vocals and chiming bells. “The Room Outside” continues the dark chamber pop eeriness until its hook lightens the mood into the whimsical territory. Thick slabs of bass plod over twinkling piano and synths, muddying the otherwise jangly track for a futuristic madhouse sound common throughout the record. “Crime of the Season” features vocals from each member, with jerky rhythms of noise manipulation bouncing around in perfect time with the infectious melody. The hook is pulled straight from their influences catalogs, but it’s the music surrounding it that’s new and entirely Mini Mansions. The song slows to a crawl as the funeral procession vibe seeps in creating a gorgeous texture within the track. “Monk” offers another subsonic bass line that grooves and changes without notice, always keeping the listener moving and fully entranced. The hook is strong and memorable as they croon, “What you two-time me for? I’m on my way…” over stop-start rhythms and syrupy melodies. A clear stand-out on the album, the vocals double and triple for a wavering effect that reigns with charismatic greatness as the song spirals out of control.
“Wunderbars” slows things down with gentle dreamscape atmospherics and hazy vocals that float suspended in air. The lo-fi rhythm plays opposite of the grandiose organ crash and their insistently heavy low end rumble, which makes sense as Shuman is, after all, QOTSA’s bassist. “Seven Sons” offers a sleek vocal performance that John Lennon could be proud of, including a strong call and response effect that sits comfortably among the warped psych pop framework. “Vignette #2” brings back the haunting bells before pushing forward into its own Twilight Zone whirl. “Kiddie Hypnogogia” is the album’s true highlight, starting off innocently with a quiet beauty that slowly builds and expands with gigantic pounding drums, spinning guitar distortion, and an all too short sonic freakout. “Majik Marker” is another favorite; it is a song steeped with psychedelic tinged nonsensical vocals such as, “cocaine madmen, crazy kazoo, ticky diabetics hanging up on you,” sung proudly within a colorful melody with a brilliant bending harmony. The intensity builds to a breaking point as the band repeat “Evel Knievel” before announcing, “Don’t even tell your mother,” then diving headfirst into the album's tightest fuzz filled dance groove.
“Girls” could be the most Beatles derivative song on the album, a slow track that relies heavily on punchy vocals and contrasting harmonies from each of the singers. The bass and piano kick up into a frenzied soul groove midway through the song, a great beginning to the trip’s finale. “Thriller Escapade” closes the record with another dazzling display of Mini Mansions’ soft verses and booming hooks approach to songwriting. Opening with lush vocal harmonies over a single piano accompaniment, the band soon crashes into the fuzzy sting of distortion as they lull you into their noisy euphoria for one last hurrah. Mini Mansions have created one of the most complex and rewarding pop albums in recent memory, and it only gets better with repeat listens as the legion of harmonies begin to unfold.
--Dan Goldin
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