On their latest release, "Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps," Mike and Mandy tackle a 1947 Latin jazz standard, but they transform it into something far more striking, a dubby, chill-out odyssey, one that glows with warmth and atmosphere.
"Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps" has been recorded thousands of times from the late 1940s until the present day, making it a rock classic. But Mike and Mandy's rendition not only covers the song, it reimagines it. Produced and recorded entirely by the pair of them, the track comes on like a slow breath out at the end of a long day. The layers of deep, rolling bass and echoing textures provide a backdrop that hovers between jazz lounge memories and present-day downtempo cool.
There's something intimate to the way Mike and Mandy approach this piece, a sense that they know this song's origins while allowing themselves room to drift far beyond. That rhythm throbs like a heartbeat, steady and understated, and the production favors spacious echoes and understated delays that let each note breathe. It's music for the quiet hours, the wee hours, the long drives, the space between spaces, no matter the volume of Ben Shepherd's throbbing bass or Chris Cornell's volcanic wails.
What distinguishes "Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps" is that it manages to span the ages without pretending they can be forced together. You can still hear the smoky romance of its Latin jazz roots, but it's seamlessly worked into a sound that could easily rest on any of today's most eclectic chill-out playlists. Mike and Mandy are not out to impress anyone with flash or overproduction, they allow the song to play out as if in a meditation, with nearly touching pacing.