Mango Safari
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States | Established. Jan 01, 2018 | SELF
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Mango Safari has come a long way from its middle school Beatles covers.
The New Hope, Pennsylvania duo — comprised of Ryan Keating, a Penn State sophomore, and Grant Cheung, a sophomore at Millersville University — is celebrating its first official release on all platforms. The group released an EP, titled Momotaro, which it put out in December.
“I think we put in a good effort,” Keating (sophomore-business) said. “We’ve been getting good streams too. We got on a big Spotify playlist with one of the songs, so it's been pretty solid streams.”
Their Spotify reports over 2,000 monthly listeners, which Cheung, who is majoring in music production, said is “crazy.”
Together, Keating and Cheung make up the entirety of the sounds on their album, which they tentatively described as indie-rock — which Cheung said “it’s hard to put a label on it.”
Cheung plays guitar, drums, bass and keyboard, while Keating does vocals along with guitar, bass and keys.
Despite several SoundCloud releases over the years, neither Keating nor Cheung considers those to be particularly noteworthy.
“There's been SoundCloud releases, but we don't count those,” Keating said. “Those were more like practice. We put a single out when we first started college, but this is our first project.”
There is a definitive feeling of pride shared between them as they reflect on how much they have progressed. But still, Mango Safari is hungry for more.
“I think it's a good start, but when Ryan and I listen to it, there's all these little things that we wish we did differently,” Cheung said. “It's a good starting point, but we’ve progressed a lot since then. We're already working on new stuff that's a lot more progressive.”
Keating agrees — they are not interested in getting comfortable.
“We’re trying to branch out a little more creatively and make stuff that doesn't sound as derivative,” he said. “[The EP] was a good start, but we have ways to go.”
Ultimately, the two are excited to improve their sound and come out with newer songs for their next release, with a full album in the works for summer 2020. The two are also hoping to play more live shows.
“I’m looking forward to taking it to the next level with whatever we do,” Keating said. “Just generally progressing and trying some new things.” - Daily Collegian
Discography
Momotaro - EP (2019)
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Bio
Indie/Psych rock band based in Philadelphia, PA
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