Tiny houses
This eponymous album is the work of QOTSA member Michael Shuman and his comrades-in-pysche Tyler Parkford and Zach Dawes. The record was originally released across the pond last year and it now gets its UK release via Shuman's boss Josh Homme and his label Rekord Records.
The tone of "Mini Mansions" is a departure from the sexed up rancour of Queens, adopting a slinkier, somewhat menacing approach. The record sounds a little like music that was created to soundtrack a 'darker, edgier' version of sixties TV show The Munsters. There's creepy, almost lullaby alike lyrics and constant insidious bass and organ that ranges from Blue Peter to Blue Cheer. Shuman's voice keeps to a narrow register that never stops Mini Mansions from ever spoiling the painstakingly crafted mood. The album is structured around three vignettes titled Vignette #1, 2 and um, 3. The theme expands and twists over the course of the record.
'The Room Outside' sets out the stall for the record, channelling The Beatles' most unselfconsciously psychedelic record "Revolver". With lyrics that imagine "plastic champagne and sliding doors" it instantly conjures 1960's experimentation with pop content and proceeds to slip into a fuzzed up lurch of a tune. 'Crime of the Season' is worthy of mention purely for its combination of words to a shifty shuffle of a rhythm that go something like "It's a Garden of Eden so many doubts, so many doubts...Why are you passing up my test dummies/You're knocking around all my guests on the front page funnies" or something. 'Monk' is a wonderful slice of psycho pop, a sweet melody delivers the mistrust laced lyric "what you two timing for?" The descending bass and clattering organ chords in the verses simply embellish the need to look over your shoulder before the shouting and wailing begin.
It's not always interesting though, as the directionless waltz of 'Wunderbars' attests, but more Fab Four pop styling's are on show during 'Seven Sons' with a vocal which is very John Lennon. Vignette #2 saunters in at this point building on the first but adding a new section with a new lyric. 'Kiddie Hypnogogia' is a fantastic cut, delivering another seductive melody while a vintage BBC Radiophonic Workshop dirge grumbles intermittingly in the background. Cut and paste lyrics abound on the darker piano driven 'Kiddie Hypnogogia' as Mini Mansions seek the past and come back with supporting words such as "Tricky dicky hippopotamus....Evel Knievel....Don't tell your mother." 'Girls' demonstrates the band's approach to picking up the opposite sex "can't you see that I'm fond of you girl, I've just found a deep need to fondle you while you fondle me too." At this point the vignette re-emerges from the darkness with a single guitar phrase over a loitering synth. I can see why Josh Homme has Shuman in his band.
If you're after a modern reference the closest contemporaries would be the honey and milk psychedelia of Tame Impala – the light side to Mini Mansions' more twisted vibe. There's no forced wacky weirdness on "Mini Mansions" and they mix the sweet with the sinister; the fun with the phantom. Granted, there are few individual knock out songs but taken as a whole it's cohesive, clever and affecting.