Mansions On The Moon has been getting some very consistent love here on Hillydilly as they've revved up to their full-length album release, so now that it's finally here, the tracklist should feel like a bit of an occasion. There's a total of ten efforts on the project, and while there's a pretty even mix of old and new, the whole thing still feels as fresh as the first time we heard "Radio". The band, on face, has a pretty straightforward game plan with this album, but don't let the traditional execution turn you off from the fact that these guys have made something quite special here. The band has really honed their skills when it comes to putting out fresh synth-pop, and if you were worried their sound was going to get stale with the longer song lineup that comes with a full-length, you'd just be plain wrong. As mentioned before, the album is bolstered with the standout singles that have already graced our pages in past months, so some of these sounds will not be making the headlines, but even with that said, we're going to give a second shout-out to "Somewhere Else Tonight", "The Truth", and "Where You Are". All three of these tracks were integral to MOTM's rollout schedule, and they all did a great job diversifying the band's sound and building buzz for the release. If you haven't already heard these three, we recommend you start there, because they'll give you a nudge over the edge if you were at all on the fence about these guys. With so many good songs from the tracklist already out on their Soundcloud account, the album risked coming off as a bit anticlimactic. However, there's plenty of great new material her to avoid that, and we have a few new arrivals that we're particularly fond of. "Notice Me" is particularly strong, and so is "All There Is" and "Time". Each of these three songs are extremely different. In fact, if you listened to "Notice Me" and "Time" back-to-back without any context, you might very well guess that they come from two different bands. However, it's this diversity of sound that we absolutely love, and it just goes to show that MOTM has not only knocked this project out of the park, but really solidified their place as a name to look out for in the years to come. If you wish to hear the entire album (versus our highlights below), head on over to SoundCloud. The album is also available on iTunes.
Mansions On The Moon