'We Kind Of Shut Ourselves Out': Mansionair's 'Some Kind Of Alchemy' Is A Balm For The Soul

Sydney-based trio, Mansionair, released its third record last week, Some Kind Of Alchemy. The group began working on the record when they returned from their 2022 tour of their second album, Happiness, Guaranteed, with Some Kind Of Alchemy promised to be a distillation of Mansionair holistically. 

When The Music spoke to Mansionair, there was an undeniable feeling of homecoming with the group returning to the roots that saw them produce a breakout hit, Hold Me Down, nearly 11 years ago. 

Lose Yourself Again was the first single released from the record, followed by ATLAS, The Way You Move In Me and Sucker/Psycho. However, they admit that it’s not really their style to release music as singles, preferring to disappear for a few years and emerge with a whole record.

“It was the first record that we were like, 'This is what we want, and we're not going to stray from it,'" explains Jack Froggatt." It was that kind of confidence in the creation of it that I don't think we would have had the ability to say that and know that we can trust our instinct and lean heavily into that.

“I think we kind of shut ourselves out. We essentially put the record together all on our own for the first couple of years before we were like, 'Okay, let's get a label, let's get someone on board to kind of help pull it together.' And I think we were just trusting the balance between the three of us and letting the songs kind of lead the way as well."

It's difficult not to be struck by the level of introspection and trust in their craft, with Mansionair at one point laughing during our chat that they may have thought about all this too much. The fact is, Some Kind Of Alchemy delivers a spectrum of emotions, reminding us of their ability to say so much without saying it.

“We had this big conversation where we were like we didn't want the record to feel preachy, or dogmatic, or like that gross New Age spiritual, sort of, like, ‘We have all the answers and love is the answer," says Froggatt. "I wanted to avoid that whole conversation.

“It's like, how do you talk about the human emotion and all this sort of stuff without getting too fluffy or too preachy? And so I think the soul-searching thing was maybe like trying to run a line of show, not tell, and the records meant to be like, we don't have the answers. 

"We don't really know what we're doing," he continues. "That's okay. That's the point. I hope that it connects to people who maybe feel the same, or feel the same funny feeling sometimes of knowing what it's like to be alive."

Sucker/Psycho arrived as the second taste of the record when it was released at the end of September. There is a sexy, almost tribal feel to this song and a great introduction to their vocal range as they hypnotise with their chorus, “'Cause you know I’m a sucker, psycho.”

“I think when we made the decision to embrace and make a dance, four on the floor record with, like, airy falsetto vocals that feels very Mansionair," says Froggatt. "How do we bridge all the stuff that we've done till now, but also make something that sounds consistent?"

Expecting that this would be the general direction of the record, we were surprised last week when we heard the full track list and could see even more from the group, tapping into a catalogue of emotions.

The first track on the record is Heavyweight, and it’s exactly that. The wall of sound comes at you instantly, and there is so much emotion drenched in the sonic experience that it’s hard to not to feel those pangs of sadness, loss or whatever it stirs in you.

Orbit is another favourite on the record, and it feels like it exists in the same universe as Hold Me Down, perhaps a cousin of the hit with the similar style drawing you in as it did millions in 2017. At various points in the interview, we discuss the colossal success of their breakout hit and how that relates to Some Kind Of Alchemy.

“We seem to have bottled up magic somehow with Hold Me Down, and we spent the last 12 years trying to find it,” admits Froggatt. "And we have found it."

As we chat, Mansionair have already performed their new music on their 2025 tour, with only Sydney left to perform, promising be a sweet victory for the locals.

“I think hometown shows are always really special. So Sydney will be amazing," Froggatt enthuses. "I think for us, it's just like being back. Like we mentioned Hold Me Down before, for so long, we were a band that had like, one song, and when we came to a live show, we were like, like, 'How do we stitch this all together?' 

"And now, now we're three albums in, and the set list conversation is like, 'How do you appease everyone?”

Mansionair's Some Kind Of Alchemy is out now.