To call
Damon McMahon a wimp wouldn't be entirely fair or entirely accurate. But on the evidence presented by his debut EP (ten songs and 28 minutes, at a budget-line price), it doesn't seem like it would be entirely unfair or inaccurate, either.
Mansions was recorded in
McMahon's bedroom and consists almost entirely of his own rudimentary guitar playing and his vaguely
Joni Mitchell-esque voice. (John Davis contributes string bass on most tracks as well, and Andrew Haskell plays piano on one track.) It's an approach that puts great pressure on the melodies and lyrics to be both engaging and interesting, and in that regard
McMahon succeeds fairly well, if not really consistently. "Baby Brown Eyes" is quite pretty in a wispy sort of way, and "Elizabeth Taylor" (which is actually about a diamond broker with an embezzlement habit) is lyrically off-kilter in just the right way. "Somewhere in France" feels a bit more like weirdness for its own sake, though, and "Love Me in a Daydream" flows along nicely until it devolves into a creepy wordless chorus at the end. Best is "Hong Kong," a subtle and lovely song that sounds more fully realized than much of the rest of the program. Not essential, but worth hearing. ~ Rick Anderson