Mansions on the Moon

Californian band Mansions on the Moon certainly have some good contacts. Their first release saw their name alongside Diplo and Deadmau5 on the intriguing ‘Paradise Falls’ mixtape. On the back of that Pharrell Williams was an executive producer on their last EP, 2012′s ‘Lightyears’. This time they are out on their own for the first time with the ‘Full Moon’ EP. Without the direct influence of their friends, Mansions on the Moon have reverted to an unobtrusive ambient sound. The timing of this release is perfect; it is a great soundtrack for the changing seasons and longer nights.

Opener and title track ‘Full Moon’ sets a marker and is certainly the most immediate and radio friendly track. There is no doubt from the very start that this is a pop band confident and assured in their abilities. From a strong start, ‘It’s Not Too Late’ stumbles a little; “Now all the life is gone” sings Ted Wendler melodramatically “and like a ghost I can’t stop holding on.” Lyrics are not a high priority with this genre but it would be nice if they felt less like an afterthought than they do here. ‘More Than Nothing’ builds into a strong pop song by intelligently using the minimalist style of bands like The XX and then making it more accessible by applying it, along with a strong guest vocal by Codi, to a solid pop song that would not be out of place on records by most contemporary top 40 acts.

In a trend started by their previous releases, ‘Full Moon’ has its fair share of guests. Two of the five songs feature guest vocals. The best of these is ‘Heart of the Moment’ which features Zee Avi in a beautifully judged cameo. The track itself is the most assured of the collection, capturing the retro 80′s sound while remaining current.


‘Make this song like the last song and the song before that’ is an apt lyric from final track ‘Radio.’ It talks about songs on the radio all sounding the same in a track that, ironically, sounds like most other things on the radio today. There is nothing wrong with that and the track itself is hard to fault but it leaves an unwelcome sense of misplaced arrogance as the final tone of the record.

A couple of years ago the fashionable indie scene decided that the hot thing was simplistic, overly sincere indie pop in the vein of Bon Iver and Birdy. Today that has shifted from guitars and pianos into ambient electronica. In the best possible way Mansions on the Moon’s ‘Full Moon’ is a solid piece of that chilled out scene. Early mornings and late nights deserve to be soundtracked by this band’s records. Musically this is a faultless and slickly produced collection, and yet, I can’t escape that it feels like a sampler by a band that is certainly talented and capable, but unsure of where on the musical landscape they want to lay their hat. The band claim to fuse electronic music, hip-hop, indie rock and pop but on the sound of their latest release they do not. Instead they hold a middle ground of electronic pop that is popular right now. These songs do not have the hooks to make a chart impact like The 1975, Hurts or Chvrches and they are not indie or experimental enough to court Mercury Music Prizes. There is a place for this band to become huge but they haven’t quite found it yet. - What Culture

This has been a long time coming. LA’s Mansions on the Moon have created this infectious brand of electronic indie-pop, and have been teasing us with single releases for months now. But finally, the rest of the Full Moon EP has been released, giving us the entirety of it’s 5 tracks. Just as with their debut Paradise Falls mixtape, as well as their Lightyears EP, Full Moon doesn’t give us a more solidified answer to the question, “what is the signature Mansions on the Moon sound?” But that’s part of their appeal. Their sound is so unique from song to song, yet there’s this unidentifiable component that makes it so consistently true to their style.

‘Radio’, ‘Full Moon’, and ‘It’s Not Too Late’ have all been previously released, which gives us two tracks that we’ve never heard before. The EP’s title track brought a crisp, clean sound to the table where ‘It’s Not Too Late’ brought forth more of an ethereal, midtempo indie vibe. ‘Radio’ was a track that landed right in the middle of these two — a bit more uptempo than ‘It’s Not Too Late’, but made more usage of those hazy, echoed synths that weren’t entirely present in ‘Full Moon’. But the album starts to really get interesting when we are introduced to the two never before heard tracks: ‘More Than Nothing’ featuring lead vocalist from Frank + Derol, Codi Caraco, and ‘Heart of the Moment’ featuring Zee Avi.

‘More Than Nothing’ changes the tempo of the EP drastically, as they created a downtempo electro-pop song that plays upon the heartstrings of the listener as the back-and-forth, male-female vocals create a beautifully atmospheric vibe atop the light piano lead. However, the pace of the album is brought immediately back to speed when ‘Heart of the Moment’ comes on. This retro sounding, 80′s disco track plays on some of their signature, synth-heavy sounds, but does so in the most seductive of ways. These two tracks are the perfect, mid-album detour before heading back into ‘Radio’, which serves as the EP’s final track.

Mansions on the Moon is revolutionizing both the electronic and pop genres, and doing so with a tremendous amount of ease. This EP has been high on my list for quite some time, and it lives up to the already high expectations I set for it (and actually surpasses them in many instances). And best of all, they’ve offered this up for a price of your choosing. But given how talented these guys are, and how far they are pushing the musical boundaries, I highly advice you to support them with even just a single dollar. Here’s to creating, listening, watching and supporting good music and the talented musicians behind it. - The Music Ish