{"product_id":"greg-mendez-beauty-land-cd","title":"GREG MENDEZ - Beauty Land - CD","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #ff0000;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCD \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGreg Mendez\u003c\/strong\u003e has always been an economical songwriter – he wields restraint and simplicity as tools, the core of his songs sharpened into simple, cutting truths. On \u003cem\u003eBeauty Land\u003c\/em\u003e, his new album and debut LP for \u003cstrong\u003eDead Oceans\u003c\/strong\u003e, we’re guided by a wry but forgiving narrator, an underdog who has learned to balance cynicism and faith. These songs are self-effacing without self-pity, carefully constructed altars of imperfection channeled through pop melodies, shimmering but urgent guitars, and a voice that reaches for choir boy innocence.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe bulk of \u003cem\u003eBeauty Land\u003c\/em\u003e was recorded directly to tape, almost entirely alone in Mendez’s makeshift home studio in Philadelphia - a small room with no natural light. It’s his first full length since his unexpected self-titled breakthrough in 2023, which was a slow burn success following 15 years of writing and recording music in relative obscurity between Philly and New York. Beauty Land picks up where we left off three years ago – plumbing the depths of grief, love, and addiction – but its intense, quiet clarity shows Mendez at his songwriting best.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eParts of \u003cem\u003eBeauty Land\u003c\/em\u003e feel like a lucid dream, dented characters carve their way through a world that’s cartoonish and warped – the broken-clock march of “\u003cem\u003eI Wanna Feel Pretty\u003c\/em\u003e,” the chiming toy piano on “\u003cem\u003eGentle Love\u003c\/em\u003e.” “\u003cem\u003eMary\u003c\/em\u003e \/ \u003cem\u003eDreaming\u003c\/em\u003e” begins as a sparse, finger-picked lament before cutting abruptly to a deflated, Beach-Boys-but-make-it-fucked-up resolution that brings both melancholy and joy; a sense that all things can be true at once. None of the 14 tracks here break three minutes, but they tell stories that span lifetimes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDeath floats through the record, whether it appears as a memory or a threat. Everything feels precarious. There’s a fragility to how these songs are built: the way the funeral organ hits alongside the morphine on “\u003cem\u003eLooking Out Your Window\u003c\/em\u003e,” the devastating simplicity of “\u003cem\u003eFrog\u003c\/em\u003e,” with its slowed-down keyboard and bare refrain: “Please forgive me for my faults.” \u003cem\u003eBeauty Land\u003c\/em\u003e feels, at times, impossibly lonely. Which makes it really count when it doesn’t – like when Mendez sings in harmony with his wife and bandmate, \u003cstrong\u003eVeronica\u003c\/strong\u003e near the end of “\u003cem\u003eSo Mean\u003c\/em\u003e” and it feels like a cherished reunion, a fleeting moment of redemption, a temporary parting of the seas.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dead Oceans","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":57439770575193,"sku":"SDZ-14492","price":14.99,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0588\/3455\/0945\/files\/Greg_Mendez_-_Beauty_Land_-_CD_-_2026.jpg?v=1772553688","url":"https:\/\/spindizzyrecords.com\/products\/greg-mendez-beauty-land-cd","provider":"Spindizzy Dublin","version":"1.0","type":"link"}