Last Friday, Adelaide indie-pop artist MANE released her debut EP 'Coping Mechanisms'.
A six-track release written to heal, grow and ultimately start anew with, the EP is more than a new chapter for MANE."'Coping Mechanisms' follows the journey of trying times, mental health and the moments of strength in between," MANE says.
"It's a reminder to myself and to anyone else going through something difficult that we all have the strength in us to overcome hard times and welcome personal growth.
"I've always inherently felt things very deeply and fortunately for the better part of the last ten years, I've been able to have an outlet for that in my music – hence the EP title 'Coping Mechanisms'.
"I'm so proud of this body of work and I can only hope that it can resonate and help those travelling through a similar chapter of their life."
As such, 'Coping Mechanisms' is an exploration of how to come out the other side with the potential to be stronger than before.
Recorded at Shed Studios in Melbourne and produced and mixed by John Castle (Angie McMahon, Hatchie), here MANE shares some stories and behind the scenes photos from the recording process of 'Coping Mechanisms'.
"John and I spent most of our breaks out in the garden when we were recording. Any excuse to pet the doggo outside."
"On the second week of recording, my long-time friend and collaborator Benny Tamblyn came over to Melbourne to help out on some guitar work for 'Over & Over', as we wrote the song together.
"The whole recording process was really relaxed and it was pretty lovely seeing the songs grow and come to life throughout this time."
"The final track on the EP, 'In My Mind' was probably the most moving experience for everyone in the studio.
"The amazing Jeff Andersen was in taking some BTS shots in the studio and I picked up the guitar and started singing the song for the sake of getting a picture with the guitar.
"John ended up turning the mic on and we captured it completely live and later, made the decision to keep it as is as we all felt it captured the emotion so beautifully and we didn't feel it needed much more surrounding it other than some ambient sounds in the live take for it to lift within the chorus."
