Eleni Mandell’s - Miracle of Five
< author: The GRB > |
Eleni Mandell Miracle of Five Label: Zedtone |
I had trouble finding the right words to justify why I enjoyed Eleni Mandell’s Miracle of Five. My curiosity led me to it and I found myself listening to it almost every day since I got my hands on it. Some days, I’m the “angry man music” type and the other days, well, let’s just describe that as “the music I listen to when my friends aren’t in the car with me” genre. I’d have to say, this is some great “late night loner” music that has made ending most nights more appropriate than others. So all of you young boy-men types, myself included, let’s welcome another artist into that post-midnight playlist of ours. Some artists make me feel as if I’m walking through a wooded area on a winter day. Eleni Mandell keeps me in a cluttered studio apartment as I drag myself to a window looking down on the city streets. I wonder to myself, “Geez, why am I spending this night alone…again?”
This is my first time hearing Eleni Mandell. I did some research and it turns out that she put out quite a few recordings prior to Miracle of Five. There are some accomplished musicians backing her on this record. Other than guitarist extraordinaire Nels Cline and DJ Bonebrake from the influential Los Angeles punk band, X, we also have a cast of musicians who’ve backed such artists as Beck, Elliot Smith, and Merle Haggard. You, the listener, should be impressed! If I had to set the mood for this album, just imagine the first time you saw Breakfast at Tiffany’s and fast forward to that scene where a future A-Team member looks in awe as Audrey Hepburn strums an acoustic guitar and sings a solemn number. Somehow, Eleni Mandell manages to capture that feeling perfectly. With her voice, Eleni sounds like she can be a seductive flirt, but her vocal style comes off more like the equivalent of a semi-platonic friend of yours that gives great hugs and whispers in your ear, “I had a great time.” Many of the songs have a similar formula of a jazzy, slow motion groove similar to the torch singers of yesteryear. Other songs have a mild alt-country feel to it that fans of Jenny Lewis can appreciate, but despite the underlying cuteness on this album, I feel Eleni’s material seems less sugary than Jenny Lewis. Dare I say, it seems more sincere?
“All I need is a rainbow and true love just like sugar in my coffee” is what she states in the rather excellent opener, “Moonglow, Lamp Low.” I can’t help but feel the need to relate. Even though it’s too early in the year to say so, this might be the most pleasant things I’ve heard in 2007.
Eleni Mandell’s - MySpace
