Mini Mansions - The Great Pretenders

Queens Of The Stone Age are the gift that keeps on giving – this time around, it’s bassist Michael Shuman’s turn to present a slice of psych-pop perfection. Mini Mansions have drowned in the sounds of post-Revolver Beatles and the trippiest of Beach Boys numbers, and emerged with a collection of nostalgic pop that still feels sublimely modern. The album boasts guest turns from Brian Wilson and Alex Turner, both of whom deliver virtuoso vocal performances. In particular, Turner’s cut-glass voice explodes through the soundscape with remarkable power.
Citing early Big Star, Electric Light Orchestra, Elliot Smith and ’80s new wave as their main inspirations, Mini Mansions have braided different strands of their influences to create something entirely new. Their unique brand of hooky psychedelia is just dark enough to make you slightly anxious, whilst still possessing the right quotient of colourful glitter to make you dance. The album is dripping in surreal lyrics that Bowie might have scribbled on a napkin in 1972, such as, “No curing Colonel Mustard, honey/ He’s beyond pretend.” Shuman has remarked that the album is obsessed with love, death and existentialism, and indeed it does explore these weighty themes to wonderful effect. Mini Mansions may be dismissed as simply a QOTSA side-project in some quarters, but The Great Pretenders proves that they are a serious proposition in their own right.

Key Track - 'Vertigo (ft. Alex Turner)'