Seattle indie rock band Mansions have announced a new album, Tuff Luff, their first proper album since 2020’s Big Bad (and also following their 2021 acoustic album Old Best Friends). It comes out October 6 via Bad Timing Records (pre-order). The album follows the band’s 11th anniversary celebration for 2011’s Dig Up the Dead in Brooklyn last year, and singer/guitarist Chris Browder says that revisiting those old songs partially inspired the direction of this new album. “As you get older, there’s always a desire to get back to what made you fall in love with music in the first place,” he says, adding that he embraced “the instinct of turning on distortion pedals and almost doing it like I would have in high school. There’s a purity there instead of trying to be too clever.”
You can definitely hear those vibes coming through in the distorted, revved-up lead single “Underrated,” and Chris’ catchy, boyish, Death Cab-y delivery is in fine form. Check it out below.
“These songs are personal in a different sort of way than before,” Chris adds. “I had just started therapy, and it was helping me see things in a much clearer way. In the past if I was having an issue, it usually manifested lyrically as a conflict with someone else but missed the core anxiety or fear I actually had. These songs – in a way that almost embarrasses me – are straight to the point in terms of what the real thing is.”
Tracklist
1. Sorry Sorry
2. Crystal Lake
3. Something Sweet
4. Underrated
5. Into My Body
6. PIP
7. 2 B w/ People
8. Honeymoon
9. It’s a Joke
10. Last Dance
11. Ice Age
