Mansions
Released on November 12, 2013 via Clifton Motel Records ‘Doom Loop’ is the third LP from Mansions; which is made of members Christopher Browder and Robin Dove.
Mansions was started as a solo project in 2007 by Christopher Browder in his hometown of Louisville, KY. That same year he released their first full-length album (‘Mansions’ LP) through Sophomore Lounge Records. Since that record was completely self-produced, and includes the early versions of several songs (which were rerecorded for later releases) he doesn’t count it as an “official” record.
Their first EP (‘Mansions’ EP) came in 2008 when they got signed to Doghouse Records. This first EP was intended to act as teaser for their “official” LP ‘New Best Friends’ – as it included two tracks and two B-sides from the following album. Although ‘New Best Friends’ was recorded in 2008, the release date was delayed until 2009. As they didn’t want the delayed released date to stop their momentum they released seven EPs to fill the gap.
Those seven EP’s were all self-recorded by Chris in various forms such as cassette, minidisc (both in limited release), and digital download. Although these EPs are out of print now, they are all are compiled on a bonus disc (‘The EP Initiative’) that comes with the physical copy of ‘New Best Friends.’
During this time of intense creativity Chris’s approach to songwriting changed and by the time the release date of ‘New Best Friends’ rolled around, so had their live performance and their overall sound. When ‘New Best Friends’ was finally released the band departed ways with Doghouse Records.
They released another EP titled ‘Thyme Travel’ in 2009 and in early winter of that year they began demoing tracks for their second LP (‘Dig up the Dead’) in Winston-Salem, NC. That following April, they went up to Chris’s parents’ house in Louisville, Kentucky for ten days to record a majority of ‘Dig Up The Dead’.
‘Dig up the Dead’ was a deeply personal album for the members of Mansions and after its recording, feeling like they need a change in scenery, they relocated to Seattle, WA.
Although the Pacific Northwest felt like a great fit for them, when it came time to actually start working on ‘Doom Loop’ Chris found himself to be in an unusual situation. Even though he released over a dozen EPs and played hundreds of live shows under the moniker of Mansions, this was only their third proper record.
They were hearing of people talk about the band as a “fuzz pop band” and since Chris didn’t see any of their previous releases as such, they decided to record that record. Chris did in fact have thoughts about avoiding big choruses and not being super melodic, but he knew that wasn’t him. What makes for their unique sound is the fact they meshed distortion into these pop songs.
‘Doom Loop’ was written and recorded primarily in Browder’s Capitol Hill apartment and when the basic tracking was complete, Mansions recruited John Momberg (Appleseed Cast, Koufax) to record the drums and Jim Vollentine (Spoon) to engineer them. Once the drums were complete Steve McDonald (Redd Kross, OFF!) tackled the final mix.
Responses by Christopher Browder
‘Climbers’
The genesis for this was absolutely the fuzz bass line. Everything else was built up around that, and it is what keeps the whole thing together and cohesively dirty.
‘Flowers In My Teeth’
One of the last songs written for the record, I really wanted something with a pounding synth bass line and a sense of mischief. The whisper vocals were originally a product of recording in a quiet apt and trying not to be heard, but the vibe worked so we kept it.
‘Two Suits’
The first demo of this was all on wonky keyboards with no guitar, and it wasn’t really intended to be a Mansions song. But after playing it live with guitars a few times, we figured out how to make it work, and it became one of our faves.
‘La Dentista’
This was a good example of allowing a song to be what it’s meant to be. This had a big pop chorus, so we did it with distorted guitars and a Moog, as big choruses should be done. We were also looking for a chance to have some out-of-sync arpeggiators and thought the bridge was a perfect opportunity.
‘Out For Blood’
This one took a lot of tries. The tempo, the arrangement, everything had to be just right to make it work, but it was worth the extra effort. The end section (especially the synth sounds) is one of my favorite moments on the record.
‘The Economist’
This was the first song written for the album, but it went through many versions before coming back to the distilled version on the record. We wanted to make sure that riff had plenty of room to groove, with the surprise of the more pretty, pared-down bridge.
‘If You’re Leaving’
Another one built around the synth bass. The demo had a drum machine with a pouring beat that I thought might be weird for our real drummer to pull off, but fortunately he had enough machine-like capabilities to make it sound really cool.
‘Last One In’
I felt pretty weird about doing the falsetto in the chorus, but once I had the idea I started hearing all sorts of songs with falsetto parts that didn’t sound weird. If it’s good enough for Prince, it’s good enough for me.
‘100 Degrees’
The version on the album is probably 90% true to the demo. A lot of the delayed and acoustic guitars had a certain vibe that we couldn’t quite recreate, so we ended up keeping a lot of original parts.
‘Falling Down’
This was the last song written, when we just decided to chase whatever inspiration we had. I saw a car commercial that had some weird synth/drum machine thing that sounded strangely cool, and somehow that ended up leading to a guitar riff and drum beat that sound nothing like that commercial.
