culture
Sound Advice: “What You Offer” by Donlands + Mortimer
We're still wishing for a full-length album, but in the meantime this 7-inch release is pretty great.
Local pop rockers Donlands + Mortimer have slowly built hype for themselves, playing occasional shows over the last few years. There’s no mistake D+M put on a great live show, and yet the group is one of those bands you just ache to hear on a recording: the musicianship of the team is so strong, they’d be any producer’s dream.
While the group has yet to release a full-length album that would satiate our desire to hear the band from the comfort of our homes, this 7-inch will suffice for now. “What You Offer,” and its B-Side, “One Eye,” were made available for free download through the group’s Bandcamp site last week.
The single itself, “What You Offer,” features fun, relatable lyrics, with sharp vocals from Army Girls’ Carmen Elle, who shares lead-vocal duties in the band. Her voice on the track sounds like a more skilled and slightly more syrupy Kim Deal (thanks in part to what we imagine were fantastic acoustics at The Barn Window Studio). The B-side, “One Eye,” is a bit more chilled out, and features vocalist Steven Foster, who also plays drums in the group. The harmonies are flawless; it is a refreshing treat to hear voices soar through notes with such minimal effort.
Donlands + Mortimer, in just two tracks, demonstrate their ability to compose complex chord progressions, lending some love to often under-appreciated brass players through the band’s intricate orchestrations. Both songs are rife with seamless transitions and showcase the obvious musical chops of the band members. With this much talent under their belts, it would be a shame to let Donlands + Mortimer go unnoticed.
