Danish quartet Mansfield Unleashes 4-Song Fury
Come Rain or Shine offers a graduate class in pop confection
At every iteration of the pop music festival International Pop Overthrow that I’ve ever been to – at this point that includes several in New York, Chicago, and at least five in Liverpool, which I think of as the spiritual home of the festival—there’s a breakout band whose quick set in a crowded, sweaty room stays with me long after the final notes ring out of the Vox amplifiers.
Last spring, I saw the Danish quartet Mansfield at the Cavern Club. Seeing tall skinny mod rockers, wearing white shirts and ties, made it impossible not to feel the pulse of Pete Best from 60 years earlier. But this ain’t no revival act. Even live, where it’s hard to capture the nuances of a group you’ve never seen, I could sense the songwriting of a serious rock ‘n’ roll contender.
Press play to hear a narrated version of this story, presented by AudioHopper.
In my write up, I mentioned the great song “Tell It Like It Is.” I bought it immediately when I got home, and basically haven’t stopped humming it in the year since. But the rest of the set was filled with memorable little pop baubles. And now, four of them have been released as the EP Come Rain or Shine, which hit stores February 3. And it’s really, really good.
“The Sky’s in Love with You” is a gorgeous groove, moody and melodic, whose sole flaw is that it probably should have been titled “Chain Reaction.” But that’s actually a thing. Singer-guitarist Christian Stage told me the title is actually “a pun on Burt Bacharach’s brilliant song “This Guy’s in Love with You.” It pays homage to him as a songwriter and there is a psychedelic twist to the lyrics.” With a playfully trippy video, the band builds on its rep for genre experimentation. Under Stage’s graying mop top, his dark brown Beatle roots are showing — the bridge features the phrase “in the middle of investigation, I break down” in quiet tribute to “You Never Give Me Your Money.”
I reached Stage after he’d just spent a week in London. He told me the trip wasn’t related to Mansfield but did include a quick rock ‘n’ roll detour. “I stopped by Abbey Road Studios and got to see the building from the outside. As a bonus, I happened to meet Zak Starkey, Ringo Starr’s son who used to play drums for Oasis and is currently the drummer of The Who. Legendary guy.”
“The Nature of a Troubled Mind” is a mid-tempo bass-driven tune with a super catchy chorus. The lyrics get a bit corny here — “like a landslide of emotions” — but I cut bands slack when English isn’t their first language. And this one comes with a slick video featuring roses and sparklers.
The standout song on the record is “Chasing After You,” the rare pop gem that sounds simultaneously familiar and brand new. It takes the great AAAB riff from Eddie Money’s “Shakin’,” moves it up a step (BBBC#) and boom, a great song that reads like an old friend. This one has an even better video dripping with casual Scandinavian style — even the laundromats are trendy in Denmark, assisted by the gorgeous starlets who apparently hang out in Danish laundromats. And again with the lyrics. “A pretty girl with a lovely smile / Can surely drive you mad.” OK, true enough. “But in the end you’ll realize / She’s gonna leave you flat.” I forgive the near rhyme here (mad/flat) but “leave you flat” hasn’t really been in the vernacular since the Fab Four released “You Can’t Do That” almost 60 years ago.
But that’s the thing about Mansfield and the thing about rock and roll. If you came for profundity, you’re not doing it right. Music hits you in the heart and the feet, in complex alchemy that even ChatGPT hasn’t solved. It’s not yet understood why “Tell It Like It Is” and “Chasing After You” are instantly memorable and a joy to experience. But they are, and so is Mansfield.
When I saw them at IPO Liverpool in 2022, they played as a three-piece. Guitarist Mathias Havelund couldn’t make the trip and it forced Stage to handle the lead and rhythm bits, which may have distracted from the totality of the sound. Stage told me, “Havelund is very essential to our sound. Last year in Liverpool, we had to do the performances without him and I had to focus even more on my guitar playing while singing. It frees me up as a vocalist to have that extra guitar doing all the interesting bits, so that I can concentrate on the delivery of the lead vocal. As a guitarist, I’m essentially a rhythm player, although I can do all the other stuff as well. I just prefer doing lead vocals and rhythm guitar playing. Drummer Filip Gulløv does excellent backing vocals and guitarist Mathias Havelund joins in occasionally when needed. This makes Mansfield sound big both live and in the studio.” And yeah, that empty set symbol instead of the o in Gulløv totally rules.
Get this record, support this band of great Danes, and try to catch ‘em in Liverpool again this May where they’ll be playing on May 28 and 29.
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What great tunes. You’d think these guys would be bigger. They deserve a song on a WB teen drama and I mean that in the best way possible!