MIRACLE OF FIVE

"Produced and recorded by keyboardist Andy Kaulkin, the record is snug and intimate, partly the result of Mandell's voice and nylon string guitar being put down first, with the other musicians overdubbing their parts later. Wooden percussion clanks and echoes in the near distance on "Beautiful" while reeds and jazz-guitar wind and curl around each other. Mandell sings close to the mic, as if over your shoulder,"You're walking by the local dive/ And everyone asks who you are/Motorcars go racing by/ Glancing in their rear view mirrors / ... Today you're beautiful." The song is appropriately sultry, mysterious, the right combination of Mandell's strengths¯classic, torchy jazz and knowing, sure-footed lyrics." www.popmatters.com