A Girl’s Least Favorite Friend

They say you can’t judge a book by its cover, but sometimes covers are pretty telling. MNDR’s Feed Me Diamonds is exactly what it sounds like. The all capital non-word band name evokes images of other unspectacular electro groups and the album title seethes with vanity and a sense of disposable culture. A dance friendly album of catchy pop songs for those in the hipster crowd who are finally too embarrassed to listen to Lady Gaga.

This new electronic pop duo from New York just released their first full-length album, Feed Me Diamonds, after a fairly well received EP not too long ago. MNDR is actually halfway between a group and a solo act, as “band” members Amanda Warner and Peter Wade compose and lay down all of the tracks together, but Warner performs them as a solo artist. If you’re having trouble figuring out how that makes sense, you’re not alone. Is this a legitimate collaboration or a one-off project between a singer and a producer? Hard to tell.

Warner’s vocal tone falls somewhere between Ke$ha and Courtney love, and her singing does very little to convince the listener of any aptitude for music or lyrical content on her part. Maybe she’s trying to ride the wave of intelligent pop music that other musicians have been pushing for years, or maybe record labels are just trying to cash in on her commercial appeal. It’s unclear which is true. There doesn’t seem to be any message or artistic feeling in this music, which keeps it from reaching the status of intelligent pop.

The production is clean, if a bit forgettable. There’s nothing about this record that hasn’t been done. It would be no surprise to hear “Faster Horses” or “Bombs Away” on dance floors in the near future, but it’s most likely that MNDR will fall into obscurity after maybe one more album. This is fast food music: great for late Saturday nights when you’re too drunk to know better. Don’t be surprised if they blow up, but don’t expect anything new either.