TRACK REVIEW: Iraina Mancini – Cannonball

TRACK REVIEW:

Iraina Mancini – Cannonball

9.8/10

Cannonball is released on 5th April. Pre-save the single here:

https://orcd.co/imcannonball

WRITTEN BY:

Iraina Mancini/Simon Dine

PRODUCED BY:

Sunglasses for Jaws

ADDITIONAL PRODUCTION:

Erol Alkan

LABEL:

Needle Mythology

_________

I want to start out by saying…

that you need to go and see Iraina Mancini live at The Social (34 Little Portland Street, London, W1W 7JD) on 4th April (Tuesday). Here is ticket information. You can also find out more here. She is one of the finest artists emerging right now. I am going to come to a review of her upcoming single, Cannonball. As anyone who reads this blog knows, my favourite song of last year was Mancini’s Undo the Blue. She also released a French-language version of that song, but I think it is the ‘original’ that I come back to more often. Actually, the French version is not random. In terms of her musical tastes and loves, French artists and music is very important to Mancini. An artist who seems like she would have fitted perfectly into he 1960s and 1970s, Mancini’s music does evoke something cinematic, romantic, and beguiling. One thing (among many) that I loved about Undo the Blue is the video. I have also said how it would be good to have a short film featuring tracks from Mancini. A bit of a thread or a concept where she acts as well as has her songs playing. I think that the visual side of things is very important to Mancini. Connecting the messages and meanings into her songs to videos that bring them to life, but they also add layers and possibilities. I have put her social media links at the bottom of this review so that you can follow her, but I have also put links to her YouTube and Spotify, so that you can listen to what she has produced so far. Prior to getting to her forthcoming album, here is biography about the spectacular Iraina Mancini:

“Iraina Mancini has been writing her own songs and fronting bands from a young age. Whilst on the road with these bands, she began digging into the vaults of Northern Soul, Funk, Rhythm and Blues, 60’s Garage and Disco’s rich musical history. Inspired by and building on her father’s 45’s that she had enthused over as a child, she began her passion to DJ and bring back the spirit of these often forgotten but golden musical era’s to dance floors across the globe.

Iraina has travelled the world DJ’ing and hosting at major film and fashion events such as Cannes Lion, NME Awards, Toronto Film Festival, and key music festivals; Glastonbury, Wilderness, Secret Garden Party, Bestival and for iconic brands such as GQ, Dunhill, Swarovski, Temperley, Film4 and Pretty Green.

Iraina also presents her own popular cult radio show every month on the legendary Soho Radio in London, where she teases a taster of her live DJ sets, interviews her favourite bands and serves up a music history lesson and homage to her love of Northern Soul, Funk, vintage R&B, Ska and Garage Rock. Recent guests on the show have included Lee Fields, YAK, PP Arnold, Ecca Vandall, Mike Chapman (Blondie, The Knack), Garret Shider (Parliament, Funkadelic), Babyshambles and Daddy Long Legs.

Inspired by the music she collects and DJ’s, a new solo project has started to form. Collaborating and writing with a stable of the UK’s most talented musicians & producers, Iraina has now put together her live band and is hitting the road in 2023. Her sound is influenced by her favourite music from the 60’s and 70s, French Pop, Psychedelia, Soul, Ye-Ye Girls, Serg Gainsbourg and vintage cinema.

Muse to influential fashion designers, brands and artists due to her striking vintage style and inspired by Francoise Hardy, Bridgette Bardot and Jane Birkin, Iraina is the contemporary reflection of an iconic retro era that can be re-discovered and celebrated through her style and music”.

Not only is Iraina Mancini a wonderful songwriter and singer. She is a broadcaster and D.J. You can catch her shows on Soho Radio. So passionate about the music she plays, you get '60s and '70s French Psychedelic, cinematic sounds, and vintage gold. You can tune in on Thursday between two and four p.m. She might still be a little tired from her headline show on Tuesday, but there will be an extra spring in her step that is for sure! Mancini will get a lot of love when she takes to the stage at The Social on Tuesday evening. If you can’t get to see her, then keep an eye on her social channels, as I know she will have other headline shows soon. Not only are there other spaces in London that would embrace her with open arms, but I can also easily see her doing gigs in Paris. The American market seems readymade for Mancini. Getting ahead of myself, but there are spaces around New York, California, and other parts of the U.S. where she would be perfect for. She has also recently completed her debut album. I got sent a copy (as I hope to review it nearer the time and interview her), and I can attest to the fact that it is full of pearls. Pete Paphides runs Needle Mythology – the label Mancini is signed to; Cannonball is the debut single on the label -, and he said that every single song on the album could be a single. Sort of like Michael Jackson’s Thriller! Maybe like Shania Twain’s Come on Over in terms of the immense quality and radio-friendly of the album. I know which track I would love to see released next as a single, but Mancini and Needle Mythology have an embarrassment of riches to choose from! The as-yet-unnamed album is going to really captivate people. I am not going to give any spoilers (appropriate, as it is very cinematic and has songs that seem like scenes and chapters), but it is going to get four and five-star reviews across the board. Under the Needle Mythology stable, Mancini is in wonderful hands; ones which will ensure her music is heard around the world!

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I am going to get to the review of Cannonball…and then I will end up with a bit about Mancini, her gig at The Social, and what the future holds. Prior to that, I think there will be people new to her and where she has come from. An amazing artist and D.J., there is a musical connection in the family. The legendary Geoffrey MacCormack (a.k.a. Warren Peace) was a friend of the late David Bowie. He performed and recorded with him, so that alone is amazing to know! I know that Mancini is very proud of her dad, and I can only imagine what her house was like growing up in terms of the music and the fact her dad had this special bond with one of the most important musicians ever. MacCormack recently put out the book, David Bowie: Rock ’n’ Roll with Me, that I would recommend everyone gets a copy of. Anyway, I will come to that a bit more in conclusion. The first interview I want to source takes us to back to 2020. In fact, it was published as the pandemic was being announced and the world was changing. Iona Debrage chatted with the sensational and stunning Iraina Mancini:

“How did you cme into doing what you are doing?

I have always had a passion for music, I grew up in a very musical family so it was a part of my daily life listening to old records and going along to the studio with my dad. I naturally started writing my own songs and learnt to play the piano. I also used to record songs from the radio onto tapes and record over the speaking parts with my own chat..Early training for my adult life!

Can you describe a beautiful moment that has happened to yo?

My dad sung backing vocals and wrote with David Bowie from Aladdin Sane through to Station to Station. Last year he and I were asked to sing guest vocals on Golden Years the record he was originally on with Earl Slick at the Islington Academy ..That was a bit of a moment for me.

How have you seen the music industry evolve since you started out, and where do you see it going?

The music industry has changed so much, I can barely keep up! Its amazing how easily you can push your art out into the world with Spotify, Youtube and all the social media platforms available anyone in the world can listen to your music .. Gone is the time of ‘waiting’ for a record deal, you can have complete control of what you put out. You can make music videos on iPhones, film live sets and stream online and interact instantly with your fans. Its a lot more work but ultimately more satisfying and authentic.

Which three records are you unable to live without?

That is such a difficult question! But if I had to pick 3 records that I never get bored of they would be.

Barrett Strong – Money (thats what I want)
Space Oddity – David Bowie
Bonnie and Clyde – Serge Gainsboug

What do you consider to be music’s golden age?

Im totally stuck in the past. For me the golden age was late sixties early seventies”.

I am keen to get down to some reviewing, but there is another interview I want to highlight quickly. I would urge everyone to go and check out other interviews Iraina Mancini has been involved with - not only as the subject, but also as the interviewer. As someone who knows the industry and has seen things from ‘the other side of the camera’ as it were, she has this knowledge and skillset that few other artists do. Blowout Magazine caught up with Mancini around the release of her single, Do It (You Stole the Rhythm). That was back in 2021. Starting to break through and establish herself as an artist to watch closely, we got further insight into a rarefied and unique talent:

“What inspires you?

Im really inspired by music from the 60s/70s, psychedelia, Ye'-Ye' Girls, Serge Gainsbourg and Vintage film. I love the sound and style in this period of time, I find it so effortlessly cool and cinematic.

How has it been working on your music during these strange (covid) times?

I have used the time I have had during lockdowns to really focus on my songwriting. Its given me a much slower pace of life which has totally freed up my mind.

Whats next ?

I am recording the next single at the moment, im excited to finish it off. Its really beautiful and one of my favourite songs I have ever written. I am also preparing for a show in December at The Lexington in Kings Cross, there are still tickets available through the website direct. Im playing alongside His Lordship and DJ Sunday Girl who are both brilliant so really excited”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Erica Bergsmeds

Let’s move to Cannonball. It comes out on Tuesday (4th April), which is the same day Mancini take to the stage at The Social in London. It is undoubtedly going to be one of the biggest days of her career so far. An artist that has been supported by BBC Radio 6 Music, I know that Cannonball will effortless slide (or shout that be fire?!) its way onto the playlist. I think that it will be on the A-list in a couple of weeks. Not to be confused with or conflated with Damien Rice’s song of the same name, Cannonball, according to Mancini, is about meeting someone and being knocked for six. Having that cannonball-sized impact on the chest and body! A song that is among the finest gems on her debut album, I will talk about the upcoming video very soon. The opening to Cannonball readily and instantly evokes the sentiments and story of the song. If Mancini was writing from a personal perspective – where she was stuck by someone and had that heart-swell and breathless reaction -, then the composition summons up those emotions. I actually got hints of The Beatles’ Revolver (1966). There is that '60s Psychedelia, together with some hypnotic. I detect a bit of And Your Bird Can Sing, She Said She Said, I Want to Tell You and Tomorrow Never Knows in the blend (and that is the highest compliment I can pay!). Mancini’s vocal and emotional range is incredible. On Undo the Blue, it was dreamy and French-inspired. There was a romance, haziness, and dream-like quality. Here, we get something punchier and direct. I guess every listener will have their own image of a music video when they hear the song, but I am not surprised that Mancini was influenced by Sabotage and French thrillers of the 1960s and '70s. Her heart is exploding and banging and she is on the run. Whether she is fleeing and escaping with a sweetheart or trying to run from the overwhelming heat and storm of these new feelings, you are physically pulled into the song. Its insistence and potency is magnetic and moving!

Cannonball has this lullaby quality where it swings and sways. Mancini switches between impassioned calls and declarations and conversion. I love the way that she brings talk-singing into her music. It gives her songs a more layered and personal touch. You wonder who she is speaking to and asking to run with her. Whereas Noel Gallagher wrote about a cannonball in a very illogical and weird way for Oasis’ Champagne Supernova back in the ‘90s (on 1995’s (What's the Story) Morning Glory?), Iraina Mancini uses the image and object in a beautiful and new way. She does not want to fall and hit the ground, but the cannonball also refers to the fact she feels like she has been hit by one. That vulnerability of being heavy and falling aimlessly, coupled with the psychological and almost physical intense feeling of experiencing fresh admiration and seduction. The composition is so busy without ever being crowded. Backed with some wonderful production (by Sunglasses for Jaws and Erol Alkan (additional production), you come back to Cannonball time and time again! Co-written with Simon Dine, the headiness of the song is bewitching. You get scents and smells of the sunshine, open road, and city air. You envisage this image of two people new to one another but compelled to take a leap and adventure. I always set my mind in a cross between 1960s/1970s French cinema (films like Pierrot le Fou, Vivre sa vie (in a positive way), and Le Cercle Rouge) spliced with Woody Allen’s films (oddly, Annie Hall comes to mind) . It is such a headrush and mind-enticing brew that buckles the knees. One is helpless but to resist the French-inspired sway and time signature that you get from the composition. In the sense that I get images of Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg. I can also see this song being sung in French…and, actually, it would be intriguing not only hearing a remix of this, but also maybe a male vocalist providing a duet or backing. I am not sure whether any of the songs on Mancini’s debut album, feature other voices, but I could see a lover’s voice making its way into Cannonball.

I hope Mancini will forgive The Beatles/Revolver nods – their exploration of cinema and French sounds is not talked about, but it is something that comes up in their work -, but I get that kaleidoscopic and psychedelic combination they perfected in the mid-'60s. Reminiscent of the times, one also gets views of Soho in the '60s and that magic time - when the people walking the streets would have been so cool. Soho is still cool now, but just think of the fashions of the time! Props to the band as well, as the percussion is relentless. It patters and pummels like the rain, but you get the boom of a cannonball/a heat on fire, and there is some scorching guitar work. Both modern and vintage, the band are so tight and interconnected. The chemistry is amazing. I am not sure which studio the song was recorded out of (maybe AIR Studios in Lyndhurst?), but I feel like there was an intimacy; maybe a studio quite fashionable and suitable for the song – perhaps with Mancini recording her vocals and the musicians layering their parts over her. It will be interesting to see how that song comes to life on Tuesday at The Social and who plays alongside her (I have not seen Mancini play live before). Pete Paphides was not wrong when he said every song on Mancini’s recently-mastered album could be a single! They are all very different but equally intriguing and memorable. I have spun Cannonball multiple times, and I come back for different reasons. You have that composition. I have said it reminds me of songs from The Beatles’ Revolver, and I closed my eyes and imagine Mancini walking towards Abbey Road Studios with Paul McCartney back in the heyday of The Beatles (something that could actually happen one day).

I come back for the production alone, which ensures the vocals are high in the mix, but everything is balanced so that you do not lose an ounce of the instruments and what they are doing. The song switches in terms of pace. One moment, you get a raw and intense vocal, and then it goes to chatting and something softer. Cannonball twists and turns, but it has that focus that means you very much follow the heroine and picture the scenes. There are a couple of particularly good record shops round the corner from where I work in Soho. One is Phonica Records, and the other is Sounds of the Universe. Maybe Iraina Mancini’s debut album will appear there in August!? I also wonder if Cannonball will come out as a 7”, as I would just love the buy the single and have it in my hands - as, sadly, gone as the days of the C.D. single. What we have seen of the video so far looks absolutely must-see and incredible! Iraina Mancini, I think, has delivered a song even more amazing than Undo the Blue – and that was my favourite song of last year! Cannonball is undoubtedly my favourite song of this year so far. And I very much doubt it will be beaten. She is unstoppably and unbelievably brilliant, and I absolutely love her music beyond words. I love her.

I have expended a lot of words about a single, but it is a lot more than that. Iraina Mancini has a headline show at The Social on Tuesday. Go if you can get a ticket if they are still available, but just keep your eyes peeled and follow this wonderful human. Her debut album comes out in August. More details will be revealed in time. It is the kind of album that would be perfect on vinyl, and I know Mancini would have been very happy with the mastered album, as it is going to be such a cinematic, evocative, and wonderful listening experience. I cannot wait to see a photo of Mancini with the final album in its sleeve on vinyl. That image will be one of the most emotion-filled you will see! I love Cannonball so, so much. I have heard the rest of the album. I am already going to say it is going to be my favourite of 2023! Not to get too far ahead of myself, but I would not be shocked if it got shortlisted for the Mercury Prize next year – such is its quality and worthiness. I cannot wait to see the full video for Cannonball. There looks to be French cinema and 1960s and '70s touches but, taking to heart Beastie Boys’ iconic video (directed by Spike Jonze) for Sabotage – from their fourth studio album, Ill Communication (which turns twenty-nine in May –, you are going to get a lot of fun and silliness in the mix! On the video tip, I also think that Mancini was born for the cinema and acting. Something I mooted when I included her in my Spotlight feature a while back, she is someone I can see appearing on T.V. dramas and comedies. Film roles would not be out the question, such is that sense of allure, energy, mystique, and power that she projects. A wonderful D.J. and broadcaster, Mancini is also a sensational artist. She will enjoy a long career. I think Mancini will definitely play France and the U.S., but I know her music will take her to nations as far-flung as Australia. She should prepare herself for a very busy, itinerant, and successful career. From the humble and character-filled studios at Soho Radio, Mancini will soon conquer the world! Go and stream Cannonball on Tuesday and check out the video. When a pre-order link is available, go and get her debut album. She is someone who deserves…