Private Agenda - A Mannequin

A Mannequin

Private Agenda

Formats Tracks Price Buy
12" Vinyl Album 12 tracks £19.50
Download Album (MP3) 12 tracks £7.99
Download Album (WAV) 12 tracks £7.99
Download individual tracks From £0.99

Description

Private Agenda - A Mannequin

Berlin and London based avant-pop duo Private Agenda released their second full-length album 'A Mannequin' on Lo Recordings in April 2022.

A Mannequin: Private Agenda’s body of work. Twelve tracks corresponding to twelve character traits, imagined as personalities in musical form. What are the dichotomies that define us? Our seen and unseen selves, the façade and the fundamental, the real and the imaginary. The result is musical hyper-realism.

Through these contradictions, Private Agenda craft a musical world of effortless eclecticism. Classic pop songwriting is complemented with expansive production; the forward-thinking electronica of Jessy Lanza and Yves Tumor co-exists with the soft, soulful pop of Babeheaven and Erika de Casier. As a whole, it’s a record which rewrites the case for the concept album, where coherence needn’t be cringe.

Album opener Irresistible is a decadent dream pop opener in the vein of Japanese Breakfast; its lyrics assertive yet amorous. Channelling the sentimentality of previous releases such as Aura from the pair’s debut album, Île de Rêve (2019), Neo-Nostalgia is a throwback to the future, a warm electronic pop exposition in the vein of Toro y Moi and Bullion. Touching has the intimate balladry and melancholy romance of Perfume Genius, while Splendour has the effortless groove of Sinkane or Jaako Eino Kalevi.

Flipping over, the album’s two instrumental pieces link Private Agenda’s past and present. Purity is an extension of the minimalism of Primary Colours EP (2017), with a shuffle of feet and the dull thuds of keys accompanying the delicate composition. Alterations puts the late 90s trip hop and downtempo of Air and Portishead through a 2020s filter. Dressed in Velvet and Automation are explorations in eccentric yet polished alt-pop. The record’s penultimate track The Current, is striking in its synth-pop surrealism. Industrial textures composed by the avant-garde electronic musician Nicolas Bougaïeff cut across ethereal vocalism, a delightfully disconcerting collaboration. Completing the record, Substance trips out on psychedelic synth swells before a motorik beat kicks in, completing the collection in a cavernous crescendo.

Reviews

"...an innovative mix of downtempo, electro-pop and experimental beats." - Record Collector

“Private Agenda have created, crafted a vision, a world of their own design and it is really rather wonderful. A Mannequin is a slow burn and all the better for it: people will be digging this one out for many a moon to come.” - Ban Ban Ton Ton

"Strolling hither and yon between Balearic slow-rollers, MIDI-toned vapor-wave and audacious syn-drum workouts." - State 51 (Greedmag)

"...a clean pop sound that seduces the ears." - Visual Atelier 8

"A sophisticated mood board of veiled, gauzy electronica." - Monolith Cocktail

"A spacey, hypnotic infusion of synths and guitars, the caressing vocals emerging with a seamless charm." - Obscure Sound

"...hazy vocal layering and a dazzling selection of synths that are bound to have you melting inside." - Stereofox

"Brilliant." - Backseat Mafia

Tracklisting

12" Vinyl Album (LO201LP)
  1. Irresistable
  2. Neo-Nostalgia
  3. Gemini
  4. Touching
  5. Splendour
  6. Dressed in Velvet
  7. Purity
  8. Automation
  9. Alterations
  10. Narcotica
  11. The Current
  12. Substance
Download Album (LO201DA)
  1. Irresistable
  2. Neo-Nostalgia
  3. Gemini
  4. Touching
  5. Splendour
  6. Dressed in Velvet
  7. Purity
  8. Automation
  9. Alterations
  10. Narcotica
  11. The Current
  12. Substance