Sydney-based trio Mansionair made their debut with breakout hit ‘Hold Me Down’ which made radio waves from the clubs of Australia, over to Paris and across the ocean to Brooklyn. It all began in 2014 when singer Jack Froggatt, who had been playing the local music scene, accepted an invitation to top-line a suite of production beats by producer/guitarist Lachlan Bostock and drummer/producer Alex Nicholls. “Hold Me Down,” a mélange of ethereal falsetto and ambient-synth-pop, hit one million views in just two months, brought together the individual talents of each musician and solidified the formation of the three-piece band now known as Mansionair.
Soon after, the band signed to Glassnote Records, where they created their first EP Hold Me Down and were handpicked by genre-bending trio CHVRCHES to open on their headline tour across the USA, UK, and Europe. Mansionair went on to join Alt-J and Florence & The Machine on the road, most recently wrapping up a tour with London Grammar.
At the tail end of 2016, Mansionair released bristling track ‘Easier’, which has now reached over 12 million streams, a testament to the fan-base they’ve created in such a short period of time. While working on their latest offering, the band collaborated with Seattle duo Odesza on their lead single ‘Line Of Sight’, which has since climbed Billboard’s Alternative and Dance/Electronic charts and has amassed millions of streams.
Their expansive almost cinematic textured production meld Froggatt's intimate, honest lyrics. Stories of longing, hope and letting go meet careening sing-a-long choruses and smooth downtempo ballads, held by Bostock's sleek production and Nicholl's beats. Their collaboration is equal and assured.
Now, their breakout turn for the group, ‘Astronaut (Something About Your Love)’ is a genre-splitting shot from the soul; as playful as it is a sincere exploration of loneliness and distant affections. The song starts with a suite of otherworldly harmonics, “We shoved a microphone deep inside a piano and recorded all the atmospheric noises that came out,” Bostock tells. “Like what I imagined an astronaut felt as if he was looking back at Earth.”
It’s the juxtaposition between Froggatt’s intimate vocal delivery and the geographic stretch of Mansionair’s production that makes them so intriguing. Another way to view their compositions might be as micro explorations of the grand internal; miniatures writ large. “I love that stream-of-conscious style of songwriting,” Froggatt says. “As though you’re sitting in the back of a party on a couch and you’re just in your own head, overthinking everything.”
Nicholls’ rhythms bridge both live and programmed percussion: danceable and unpredictable, his beats draw the listener inward rather than blast out. Bostock describes the group’s writing and production style (for the most part, done all on their own) as one in which each member is responsible for his instrument but all have a voice in the whole. “We see each of us a dimension in the band. We’re three equal parts,” Bostock says.
Not only have Bostock, Nicholls and Froggatt expanded their early chemistry into a self-sufficient writing and recording project, but theirs is a partnership philosophically built on synergy. “We’ve grown up through this band and we’ve seen a lot already,” Froggatt explains. “I want people who listen to us to know that even though life can throw punches, you can push back through anything and come out the other side.”
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To learn more about Mansionair visit mansionair.com... And make sure you're listening to ALT 98.7 to hear "Astronaut (Something About Your Love)" at 12:35p, 3:05p, 6:05p and 10:05p every day this week.