The Recommender

While you might not yet be familiar with Scary Mansion, you probably have heard Leah Hayes, the band’s frontwoman, without even knowing it.  That’s because this musician and illustrator, based in Brooklyn, sang a duet with TV On the Radio for their track Snakes and Martyrs.  In her own project, she does more than just offer up a set of fragile vocals.  She writes the songs and plays an obscure Appalachian instrument, known as the thunderstick, which adds a banjo-like sound to the drums and bass provided by the two other band members.  The effect of listening to her music can be likened to the process of making her published scratchboard art.  She starts with the darkness and gently, purposefully reveals the song with her gorgeous voice and soft melody until a picture begins to take form.  Her poetry generates the imagery, the heartache is crushed by the layered sounds and the uplift is always reached through each tunes extraordinary box of feelings.  However, it’s often about what isn’t being shown than what is (not to sound too pretentious), but just when you think you know what the final scrape will reveal, the bass and drums kick in to shake it up a bit, adding the unexpected touches of shadow and perspective, or in the music’s case, distortion and racket.  Sometimes the fragility in her voice is almost overwhelming, but Hayes has a talent for leading a song just where she wants it to go.   She never lets it linger too long or come off as desperate.  This control most likely comes from her years of playing in differing projects, including a noise-rock band and as a solo singer-songwriter.  Scary Mansion’s tunes are always charged with emotion, as you find some that are melancholy, some that are filled with disdain, whilst others are hopeful.  Using the same trick that Arcade Fire mastered so well, she magically turns around the initial tension found in each track to leave you feeling thoughtful.  The band have two LPs, with the most recent out on Talitres Records.  You can also find some of Leah’s art at her website, where she has links to the two books she has published.  (OG)

Find them here:         Myspace

Hear them here:        SCARY MANSION – OVER THE WEEKEND

Hear them here:         SCARY MANSION – NO LAW