By Ryan McConnell
Mansion Harlots began life as an emerging act in England in the late 90’s – releasing two demo discs in 1997 and the latter in 1998, the group then disbanded the following year. Fast forward 20 years and a move across the pond to the USA the band are back with their first full length record “All Around a Fairground” which was released in December of 2019.
Having embarked on a handful of tour dates across Europe the band found themselves on ‘ARA City Radio’ in Luxembourg where front man, Baz Francis recorded a live session of two tracks from the album “Happier Alone” and “Until We Work It Out Tomorrow” which take on a whole new feeling acoustically.
With a distinctively familiar sound to that of popular music in Britain in the 90’s lead singer Baz’s voice takes on tones similar to the likes of James Dean Bradfield (Manic Street Preachers) and Brett Anderson (Suede) which is really put on show in this session. There’s something about the solitude of one (wo)man and his/her guitar playing acoustically that I find totally transfixes the listener helping them to engage more with the lyrics of the song, and that is something that Baz executes brilliantly here bringing a sort of subtlety and calmness with his vocals whilst also being direct in his message. “Happier Alone” is the stand out of the two tracks for myself, touching upon the sometimes sombre mood of self illusion around others when lost in our own minds.
Catch a listen of the the session on Spotify below..
You can also keep track of what the band are up to on the following..
INSTAGRAM: @bazfrancis8
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/mansionharlots/
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