Mandalay (band)

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Mandalay
Origin United Kingdom
Genre(s) Electronic
Trip Hop
Years active 1998-2002
Label(s) V2 Records
Members
Saul Freeman
Nicola Hitchcock

Mandalay was a trip hop duet from the United Kingdom, comprised of Saul Freeman (formerly in the duo Thieves with David McAlmont) and Nicola Hitchcock.

Contents

[edit] History

In 1998 Mandalay's first album titled Empathy was released to critical acclaim.

After hearing Empathy, Madonna became a big fan, declaring Mandalay to be her favorite band. She chose the first single "This Life" to be featured on the soundtrack for her film, The Next Best Thing, as well as the soundtrack to the British film This Year's Love.

Many other Mandalay songs have been featured on TV series' including La Femme Nikita, Six Feet Under, CSI: and CSI Miami.

The third single "Beautiful" appeared on a number of chillout albums of the time including Cafe del Mar (Vol 6) and Hed Kandi's Serve Chilled. As a result Mandalay were invited to headline at the Café del Mar 20th anniversary celebrations in Ibiza in 2000. A sunset remix of "Beautiful" was recorded and mixed by Lenny Ibizarre, the leading chillout DJ/musician on the island. The song "Beautiful" went on to be used in a major advertising campaign by Estee Lauder and was chosen for the title track of German film Der Eisbar. More recently "Beautiful" was covered by Sarah Brightman and released as the lead single for her hit album Harem.

Mandalay's 2nd album Instinct was co-produced with Andy Bradfield (Everything But the Girl, Future Sound of London, Björk) and Yoad Nevo (Jem). MK from The Guardian states, "Instinct draws inspiration from jazz and classical music to create resolutely elegant, affecting pop .... lush and expansive, Instinct's musical world is perfectly realised."

The first single from this album, "Deep Love," was remixed by Nitin Sawhney and Mandalay went on to support Sawhney on his UK/London dates. Performances at Ibiza's chillout festivals followed including "Las Dallias" and "Dreamdaze" culminating in a headline performance at The Big Chill festival in the UK.

A third album Solace followed, released exclusively in the US comprising a mix of tracks from Mandalay's two existing albums Empathy and Instinct (both previously unavailable in the US) together with an 11 track remix album with contributions from Wagon Christ, Alex Reece and Charlie May. Solace sold more than 44,000 copies in the US.

The band parted ways after the release of Solace due to artistic and personal differences. Hitchcock went on to collaborate with a number of other artists, the results of which appeared on her 2005 album Passive Aggressive. She is currently working on her next solo album.

[edit] Discography

  • Solace (2001)
    • Disc 1
      1. Not Seventeen
      2. Like Her
      3. Beautiful
      4. Deep Love
      5. It's Enough Now
      6. This Life
      7. Flowers Blum
      8. Enough Love
      9. Don't Invent Me
      10. Insensible
      11. Kissing The Day
      12. Believe
      13. I Don't Want The Night To End
    • Disc 2
      1. Beautiful (12in Canny Mix)
      2. Not Seventeen (Attica Blues Remix)
      3. This Life (Cevin Fisher Dub)
      4. Beautiful (Lenny's Sunset Mix)
      5. Deep Love (Charlie May Remix)
      6. This Life (Wagon Christ Mix)
      7. Flowers Bloom (Alex Reece Remix)
      8. Deep Love (Nitin Sawhney Remix)
      9. Not Seventeen (Futureshock Alt. Mix)
      10. This Life (Boymerang Remix)
      11. Beautiful (Calderone After Hour Mix)
  • Instinct (2000)
  1. Not Seventeen
  2. Don't Invent Me
  3. Like Her
  4. Deep Love
  5. No Reality
  6. You Forget
  7. Simple Things
  8. Too Much Room
  9. What If I
  10. It's Enough Now
  11. Believe
  12. Not Seventeen [Only Child Remix]
  13. Not Seventeen [Tom Middleton Cosmos Mix]
  14. Deep Love [Charlie May Remix]
  • Empathy (1998)
  1. This Life
  2. Flowers Bloom
  3. Insensible
  4. Another
  5. Enough Love
  6. All My Sins
  7. Opposites
  8. This Time Last Year
  9. Kissing The Day
  10. Beautiful
  11. About You
  12. Beautiful [Canny Mix]

[edit] Miscellanea

  • Some songs from their 1998 release Empathy were illegally repackaged by an unknown producer as Pearl, supposedly a new release by the band Portishead.
  • Robin Guthrie (Cocteau Twins) was a producer and provided instrumentation on the "Flowers Bloom" remix.
  • CSI:Crime Scene Investigation used two of their songs: "I Don't Want The Night To End" was played in the episode "You've Got Male" (Season 2, Episode 12) and "Like Her" was used in the episode "Play with Fire" (Season 3, Episode 22).
  • Madonna reportedly was quoted naming Mandalay as her all-time favorite band. This mention was displayed on a sticker on the Solace CD in the US, encouraging sales.

[edit] External links