Eleni Mandell
Musical shapeshifter Eleni Mandell is a cult favorite among lounge lizards; her coolly detached vocals and sly humor are well-suited for late nights and ready cocktails. Artificial Fire, however, drags her sound from the dark recesses of the corner bar and into the daylight.
For a songwriter who is celebrated so much for her live performances, Mandell has made a headphones album meant to be absorbed. The popcraft is finely tuned, economic but never predictable, with melodies that charm by following their own rules.
Credit her band: Guitarist Jeremy Drake, bassist Ryan Feves and drummer Kevin Fitzgerald, plus many special guests, orchestrate through subtlety. Their countermelodies, elegant accents and snaky grooves keeps the music spry, never settled. The approach is a perfect match for Mandell’s vocals, which summon moments of grandeur. On “God Is Love”, she settles into a lush groove, making spiritual bliss sexy.
Despite the obvious investment in arrangements and studio flora, the music sounds organic, taking sinewy turns that lead to unexpected pleasures. “Don’t Let It Happen” could be a pop rave for a 1960s girl group, but here the teenage anxiety is slowed to its luscious core. For the lyrical snapshots Mandell frames so well, the music does just enough to make them endure. Songs capture moments of memory, not lifetimes, so by the time the album arrives at the concluding “Cracked” all bash-n-pop glory the storybook sounds like a read you regret when it ends.
Official video for the title track from Artificial Fire