In this more-than-ever-populated dance-music-scene, a new quartet has emerged, Mansions on the Moon, and I got to attend the release party for their debut album at Sonos studios presented by Lyynks Music on Tuesday night.
The two songs that Ted Wendler, the guitarist of the band, performed acoustically accompanied by a female friend, didn’t really prepare us for what was coming up, when they made us listen to some of the songs of their debut self titled album. If the two tunes (an old and a new one) just played with an acoustic guitar and ethereal male-female harmonies sounded like some peaceful and quiet pop songs, almost all the rest was dance music with a true EDM flavor and an invitation for a large-open dance-floor.
The four members – Lane Shaw on drums, Jeff ‘baby’ Maccora on bass and programming, Ted Wendler on guitar and vocals and Ben Hazlegrove on keys –seemed to be in a very good mood on Tuesday night, joking around and visibly happy about their first milestone. The band engaged into a a brief discussion about their life and creative process, while listening to some of their songs… Two of them grew up together in Michigan (their parents were friends) and started making music before meeting Jeff through Craigslist. But, because of their common passion for music, they seemed to believe into some kind of cosmic purpose as they were all determined to work together. We got to listen to a few of their songs such as ‘Don’t Tell’, which was conceived during the whole Hurricane Sandy drama…. Stuck in a hotel room because of the hurricane, the song was born out of the strange experience but, curiously, far from reflecting fear or disaster, it was a very funky and infectious dance floor number, which immediately made people stand up and dance with their iPhones in hands…. Some EDM beats which apparently took three months to mix!
Now based in California, MOTM (see how it almost spells like MGMT,… just saying) also shot a very creative video for ‘Somewhere Else Tonight’, directed by Jeff’s brother and based on the idea of an inverted theme park… However, if they come up with these hot dance-floor numbers, Lane admitted to be a bit ‘nerdy’ and not to be into club-life very much, preferring to watch HBO at home… so they basically made this weird video for him.
Lots of the songs that they played sounded effervescent EDM to me, a mix of dreamy vocals with gut-punching beats, the best of both worlds, where chamber pop is extending itself and open dance floors. They also brought an international flavor with Zee Avi, a chanteuse from Malaysia, on ‘Heart of the Moment’, which was a more ethereal song with relaxing dance beats and female vocals evoking a bit R&B-Michael-Jackson era… Drugs were involved in the making of that one, mushrooms if I understood correctly, personally, I was seeing sunny beaches and was thinking about my vacations already long gone…
And they also showed a sentimental side with a song written as a Christmas present for Lane’s mother, a tune telling the eternal story of pursuing dreams despite getting older…. since it is never too late? What about them? They certainly pursued the dream to be in a band… Then I understood a bit more the connection with the acoustic side as this one song had no real beats but was rather built around acoustic guitar, hovering voices and dreamy soundscapes: they explained that one of them usually writes lyrics with an acoustic guitar then another adds beats and voila, you have the next MOTM song….
By the way, where does this surrealist moniker come from? It ‘comes from the concept of turning a dream into reality, which for us, means making the best music we can possibly create,’ they wrote on Facebook. Their self-titled album has dropped on October 22nd, and you should keep them under your radar as they have already collaborated with N.E.R.D. and Mac Miller, toured with Wiz Khalifa, and released a mixtape presented by Benzi and Diplo.
