The Long Awaited Full LP from Fake Mannequin

The engulfing trip hop and alternative pop sounds of Fake Mannequin have returned in the form of a full LP that breaks boundaries and gives you bouts of late 90s underground nostalgia, along with a cinematic backdrop and loads of attitude, swagger, and detail, as the songs give off incredible sets of moods and combine loads of textures, building immense soundscapes and brilliant vibes.

Composed Reality is an album that is brimming with character, which is nothing new for the project. This album exemplifies everything that they're amazing at.

These immersive sorts of atmospheres that they build with each track are almost always something that you can sort of swim through. They are thick in their tones and ambient in their undertones.

Some of the bee work is just ridiculous throughout this whole thing.

Sounds like 'Body" tells stories that are laid out with such amazing detail that you're able to sort of peel back the layers of it and get into it. I love that aspect about this project as well.

It's a lot of in-depth style storytelling, along with these spacious moods, and those two things go together perfectly.

They use huge and stretched-out synth pads to help build out those sonically shimmering vibes and aesthetics, while the story pulls you in, and the vocals are smooth and sort of drifting.

There are almost always melodies that hook into your brain, even during the verses.

"Pull The Sky" is another great example of a track that offers vivid lyrical description, letting you sort of paint a picture as the song plays through, and it also showcases a bit of minimalism at times.

They don't need tons of layers to be able to tell that story or create that mood. Sometimes they strip it down just a little bit so that you can soak things in differently.

The record definitely branches out into some other styles, but for me, that alternative pop and trip hop style comes together in a seamless fashion so that you have something that can be a bit boisterous but also feels smooth and has a very natural flow to it all.

Tracks like "Illusions" give off very particular kinds of feels. I think this is mostly because during certain tracks like this one, she doubles up her vocals, singing the same melody the entire time, but the doubling of the vocal tracks really thickens up the feel and tone of the song itself. She doesn't do it all the time, so when it comes through with double vocals, it just has a different style to it. It cuts a little deeper at times, which I really like.

Now, this is also a record that doesn't leave pop sensibility to the wayside.

They keep it intact, and tracks like "Moon Boots" give you a lot of that.

Even when songs have plenty of catchiness along with the edginess, the pop overtone hits perfectly simply because they still never lose that alternative overtone. The expansive element of ambient tonality is always sort of coating everything.

It's like a polish that all the songs are dipped in, giving them all a very cohesive sound, and this is something that's a staple for the duo.

You can clearly hear they are inspired by classic trip hop and new school alternative music, but they're really able to create something that feels like it's all their own.

Listening to the album all the way through in one shot is 100% the best way to go.

Yes, there's a lot to chew on and a lot to soak in, but it's super fun to do so.

This is not a record you want to miss; you don't even want to skip songs, in my opinion. You want to go all the way through and do it with headphones on because it's way more fun to do it that way

You're able to really take in all of these big, luscious atmospheres when you're listening through headphones.

No matter what you decide, listen to the record. This will take you away and put you in a different space.

We all need that sometimes, and this record is exactly what that's meant for.

It will take you into a sort of darkish but spacious place.

Check this one out right now and don't forget what you heard first.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=RDuZPENFfmenQ&v=uZPENFfmenQ

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