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Wednesday 30 May 2012

Record Review – Mangoo


MANGOO
Neverland
Small Stone       

Mangoo from Turku, Finland are a recent signing to Small Stone and this is their second album of scuzzy stoner rock, containing a variety of arrangements and instrumentation that aren’t generally found in your usual low-slung fuzzy fare.

The band certainly have a knack with a riff and chorus, veering towards pop at some points with their memorable hook-laden songwriting. They employ an enjoyably squelchy synth throughout and have a sometimes experimental bent – utilised particularly nicely on banjo-blues number ‘Home’. Sadly this experimentation can also see them come a cropper – such as in the violin-laden ‘Deathmint’ which reeks of bad euro metal or the odd harmonies of ‘Diamond in the Rough’ which feel like they were parachuted in from a ’90s indie track.

There’s enough big choruses and cool riffage on tracks like ‘Neverland’ and ‘You, Robot’ to make this a worthwhile listen but it’s a slightly patchy album overall, with at least one slow moody number too many. The experimentation is intriguing though doesn’t produce consistently good results throughout.  Hopefully the band will keep moving in this vein however and be able to marry their excellent songwriting to truly interesting arrangements and create an album to cherish.

Austin Matthews

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