Mansions – “Dig Up the Dead” Album Review

One-man band Mansions fronted by Christopher Browder is an amalgam of nostalgic lyrics and echo pop-rock sounds.

Browder’s new album “Dig Up the Dead” is an emotional ride that marries his outsider-looking-in lyrics with folksy-pop vocals. It’s a great follow-up to his 2009 album “New Best Friends,” a punk meets folk album with ambient guitar strums and his ever-brooding vocals.

“Dig Up the Dead” thematically focuses on a variety of loner-boy topics, like heartbreak, relationships, and the eternal quest for how to be cool. Browder brings an emotional appeal to his songs with his never-ending knack at writing wistful lyrics that seem as though he wrote them whilst sobbing himself to sleep. Written and recorded in a number of random apartments and homes, Browder channeled his ability to sing with a deep vulnerability and his ability to find the perfect accompanying haunting instrumentals. But where his last album had an ambient sound, the new album reels the listener in with electric guitar reverb and sweeping, anthemic choruses.

The album’s strong suits are songs like “Wormhole” that put Browder’s tortured vocals on full display. His screams towards the end encapsulate the raw emotion he builds as the rhythm climbs higher. “Close That Door” was another great number that built upon each note, but was much more restrained than the rest of the album’s garage-reverb chaos. His lyrics are as clever as they are sad, with him crooning “I watched you leave in an altered state/The corners curl as you fade to gray/I don’t want to talk/Just let me walk.” “Seven Years” was a return to a more basic sound, one that started off with a simple acoustic intro and focused on his artsy-punk vocals. The song ultimately builds into a crescendo of slow electric guitars riffs, with doubled-up female vocals towards the end. It’s the kind of song that makes you want to curl up in bed on a rainy, gray morning and give in to the wave of emotions Browder evokes. It’s also simply one of the best songs on the album. “You Got Cool” is probably the anthem to Browder’s life, losing his friends to black leather jackets and other duds of a cool guys everywhere. The same idea is on “The Blackest Sky” with lyrics like “Bottle of whiskey/throw the chairs in the pool/my friends are with me/I just wanna be cool.” It speaks to Browder’s self-perceived nerdy personality — he’s always on the edge of loneliness, never quite giving in to the notion of “cool.” Too bad he doesn’t seem to have realized that he already is.