| Mancino slams home a half-dozen-plus-one's worth of challenging, engaging songs glossed up with an artistic sheen that bristles with pure energy. |
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Mancino
Dear International
(2005)
Unequal but complimentary parts rock and pop, and never taking the easy way out, New York City-based trio Mancino slams home a half-dozen-plus-one's worth of challenging, engaging songs glossed up with an artistic sheen that bristles with pure energy.
The three disparate travelers that populate Mancino come from far-afield backgrounds. Keyboardist Nadim Issa, originally from New Zealand and the son of a Dutch mother and Lebanese father, hooked up with Massachusetts native, guitarist Mike Grimes, at Brown University. After moving to New York, the duo met drummer Jonathan Mason, who settled in the Big Apple direct from France, and a band was born.
Together, this melting pot of a core creates quirky music informed by a wealth of diverse influences, drawing a not-always straight line from the Beatles to The Doors to Talking Heads and Pavement and Sugarplastic and back again. The effect is frankly mesmerizing, even more so if your ears are paying close attention.
Closely-held ears are in order for the opener, the offbeat, multipart "Hiccup Lines," which boasts at least four different tempos and enough left turns to keep junior music sleuths busy for hours. The epic rocker "Snake(s) Charm(s) Alarm(s)" is a song the aforementioned Doors' Ray Manzarek would love, given its meaty spotlight on a grandly-styled organ part and a decidedly-Doorsesque approach. The carefully-paced lead vocal coming in at 4:53 is as Jim Morrison-influenced a nod as can be imagined, and the band makes quite a good go of it all, coming up a winner.
In addition to turning out challenging, somewhat offbeat music, Mancino also knows how to deliver the goods in a more linear fashion: the upbeat, poppy, energetic "Tina's Little Joy" has quite the catchy touch, carried along by a thumping bass and and a melodic presentation right out of the Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark playbook. Mancino channels its influences with aplomb, so much so that they are easily able to pull off a confident, a cappella verse in the neat, light rocker, "Amity."
Recorded with gusto, Dear International is a keeper that brings new joys with each listen. This album's layers run deep and cry out for headphones. Strap on a pair and go.
Alan Haber
November 6, 2005
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