Mano Le Tough Changing Days [Permanent Vacation, 2013]

Another debut album for the stacks from Irish Producer Mano Le Tough, who previously made a fantastic EP on the Internasjonal label. His style could be considered atmospheric house/modern disco, but the producer obviously pulls from a great number of sub-genres and producers. Lines are very complex for your typical dance-album, one that should appeal to club and pop-trained ears alike. The album incorporates a number of layers of tuned percussion, snatches of guitar, and emotionally naked vocals churning reasonably on top of unmistakable house. Mannion isn't a technically gifted singer, but he does a fairly reasonable job remedying this by modulating his voice a great deal for several tracks. It doesn’t fix the problem, as Mannion would probably do better just by leaving his voice out of the equation. One would then argue that Mannion’s goal of creating a house/pop hybrid wouldn’t be realized, so we’ll stick through them even when they run the risk of turning rather sour. The last few tracks certainly feel a bit more like filler than the first, but I commend Mano’s efforts on an interesting approach to a dance album.
Recommended: 3, 1, 4, 5, 7, 2

CLEAN