Like a campfire beneath a twinkling desert sky,
LANY's third set
Mama's Boy sparkles to life with warm atmospheric production and earthy Americana-inspired twang. Coming two years after their neon sophomore album,
Malibu Nights,
Mama's Boy is a subdued, comforting affair that sounds almost like
the Killers tackling acoustic worship music. From "Cowboy in LA" to "Paper," it's as if the trio decided make a full genre pivot -- they even dip into gospel on "I Still Talk to Jesus" -- before things eventually pick up a bit on the latter half of the album. The synth-washed pop of "Bad News" and "When You're Drunk" offer the polished '80s-revival vibes of
the 1975, while "Good Guys" comes closest to their typical pop style. Intimate, sensitive, and unabashedly vulnerable,
Mama's Boy is far and away their quietest and most introverted affair to date, yet it adds a depth and substance to
LANY's catalog that had been lacking from their usual feel-good Gen Z anthems. ~ Neil Z. Yeung