Manners (Bonus Track Version)

iTunes Review

Initially, frontman Michael Angelakos recorded the six songs that comprise 2008’s Chunk of Change EP as a one-man project to give his girlfriend on Valentine’s Day. The gift became a group and Manners was released in 2009, overflowing with sweet, sticky, synthy good-time pop, punctuated by Angelakos’ endearing falsetto. “Make Light” opens with squealing keyboards and a pounding beat that sets the stage for an uplifting melody cleverly contrasted by dark and inward lyrics of painful self-examination. “Little Secrets” echoes Prince’s ‘80s keyboard funk before a choir of children pipe-in with an early-‘70s element reminiscent of Miss Abrams and The Strawberry Point Fourth Grade Class. Decades shift to the early-‘90s rave culture on “The Reeling,” which plays with a festive baggy-jeans whimsy not heard since Candyflip’s 1991 album Madstock. The nearly psychedelic “Sleepyhead” is the only number here imported from Chunk of Change and with its sped-up vocals, cartoonish synthesizers, four-on-the-floor beat and unpredictably catchy melodies, it’s the most original sounding song here.