Michael Donoghue is back, this time with the single "Mantis", the first track from his next album. "Sophomore", Donoghue’s second LP, will be out in September and this first teaser promises a lot!
Words by Marco Guerra
Discovered via http://musosoup.com
OK, for those who know Michael Donoghue’s music you are familiar with his ability to jump around between different moods and electronic music genres. On his latest release, “Calm Palm” EP that I reviewed here at LITM a few months ago, this was very clear and you could listen to ambient music and deep house in just a glimpse. “Mantis” is closer to Donoghue’s danceable side, but it shows a different approach to the way the music was created, with a lot of interesting artistic options. This time the Jersey based producer applied a good dose of experimentation but without deviating from the direction and language he has accustomed us to. In other words, the captivating melody is still there, but there is an increasingly refined savoir faire in the musical construction. In which the combinations between sound exploration and melodic moments reveal an increasingly refined aesthetic sense.
Because it is this virtuosity, of knowing how to play with different parts of the puzzle, that allows us to give each moment, each passage, a new breath and a greater brilliance to the new parts that are entering as we are listening. "Mantis" is all that, it is about knowing exactly how and when the different layers must come in and out, when and how they will cross each other. It has an intro that creates suspense and opens the way for a robust kick, keeping space for the rapturous melodic pad that follows and with a bell that is in the background most of the time. The track has a break in the right moment and with the exact duration and you will also find a lot of delay effects and distortion here and there! Michael Donoghue surprises us again and whets our appetite for what his next album will be.