There’s not a word for that feeling you get when you realize a band that you might pay $15 to see as a support at the Newtown Social Club tomorrow night will likely be headlining Oxford Art Factory before the end of 2014. There are two reasons for this a) that is way too specific a situation, and b) I can’t imagine if it were a word, that it would be used that often.
And on the second night, Mansionair dropped their new single and everyone cheered. These guys are on the bubble and ready to explode. Get ahead of the bandwagon and check out their striking new single Second Night.
If this very conveniently defined word did exist however, it would be just the word I would use in reference to Mansionair. With just one single under their belt, the Sydney three piece have already landed themselves support slots for Broods and The Temper Trap, and spots on the Laneway and Beyond the Valley festivals. Yeah I know, intimidating. After releasing their spontaneously created Hold Me Down, and subsequently breaking the Internet, Mansionair have bunkered down in a studio for the last couple of months crafting and creating. Second Night is the first product of these sessions.
While Second Night isn’t officially a single, it remains every bit as striking as Mansionair’s debut, though clearly with a more down-tempo, emotional feel. The track opens with frontman Jack Froggatt crooning over a gentle, shimmering pad, his lilting vocals serving as a fanfare for the heavenly composition to come.
The track then moves to its grounding – expressive, slender guitar work. The arrangement offers more than a passing resemblance to that of The xx, with simplicity and spacious atmosphere achieving more than a complex or cluttered arrangement ever could.
The crux of Second Night is its employment of feels. It’s an intimate cut, with strings and shimmering synth lines building to an emotional crescendo, as deep percussive lines throb throughout, all swirling around the heartbreaking vocals delivered by Froggatt. In its final moments, the track breathes, with that striking instrumental being washed away by the sounds of rain, as a sampled vocal stab drives the closing moments, and eases the song into a state of drift.
Mansionair’s newest song lives up to the high standards established by Hold Me Down, and displays a sharply contrasting side to the group, demonstrating an aptitude for strong, emotional songwriting. With a track like Second Night, it’s clear that these guys aren’t going to be a support act for very long, and they’re only just getting started.
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