Mannequin Online are a Los Angeles, USA-based duo who have featured once before on these pages. It was back in 2020 that I discovered them for this blog thanks to their anti-consumerism anthem I Want It. Now I’m more than pleased to welcome them back with their second EP release. It’s called BOOM.

By Graeme Smith

I Want It was an incredible earworm that I still think about sometimes, even after all the music I’ve shared since. So I was definitely excited when I saw that Mannequin Online had dropped a new EP. This collection takes their sound and speeds it up, giving us some vibrant and upbeat indie pop.

The EP opens with Talking About. A pulsating beat is accompanied by whistling in the intro before we get some soulful vocals. It’s pop but an unconventional brand, with some interesting textures mixed into its catchy groove. It’s enough to get you excited for what’s to come.

COOL KIDS CLUB brings with it some lively percussion and relentless vocal delivery. A singalong chorus gives us an early highlight. Tempo is rich with synth notes and a punchy bassline that will have you nodding along. It incorporates sultry elements of R&B and gives us another tasty side of the Mannequin Online sound.

Joyride is suitably full of a sense of movement, proceeding with a driving rhythm and quickfire vocal delivery. Carried Away is visceral and defiant, giving us the kind of irreverent pop rock that made us fall in love with them in the first place. It’s another highlight.

Title track BOOM closes the EP with some bass heavy alternative pop. It’s a track that goes off, especially during its swaggering chorus that will get itself firmly stuck in your head. It’s another highlight from a six-track EP that has it all.

Mannequin Online are married couple Zach DeGaetano and Bridget Boltz. BOOM was written and recorded in their home studio. You can check out the EP below.