For those unaware, pop-rock duo The Mangoes will be releasing their new EP Pale Blue Dot on July 19th, 2021. The Mangoes was formed by Tim Morse and Bret Bingham in 2014. Conceived as a songwriting collective, their first album The Mangoes was well received as a pop-rock, tongue-in-cheek concept album.

After a break where Bret and Tom both released solo albums, they have reformed and are about to release this quite magnificently crafted brand new 8-track EP.

At the beginning of the pandemic, Tim got in touch with Bret about making some music together – not necessarily reviving The Mangoes. However, Bret sent Tim around ten song ideas and the majority of them seemed to be Mango-y songs, so the duo leaned into that direction.

There are a variety of genres on this project, there’s a blues-y gospel feel to Hypnotized! And a The Band/Dylan vibe of When the Sky Fell Down, but it isn’t prog rock, but has an art-rock flavor, much like the Alan Parsons Project, The Moody Blues and even a bit of Pink Floyd.

1. Suspended in a Sunbeam
2. Pale Blue Dot
3. Mystery
4. When the Sky Fell Down
5. Finding the Light
6. Hypnotized!
7. Pale Blue Dot (Reprise)
8. Free as a Bird

Opening on the simply gorgeous, synth-laden gossamer of Suspended in a Sunbeam and the gorgeously orchestrated storytelling of the title track Pale Blue Dot, next up is the soaring, gently euphoric, Bowie-imbibed Mystery, and then we get the drum-led foot-tapper When the Sky Fell Down.

Next up is one of my own personal favorites off this new EP, the layered chameleon Finding the Light, which is itself followed by the beautifully crafted soft pop rock of Hypnotized!, the EP rounding out on an atmospheric Reprise of Pale Blue Dot, closing on the languishing majesty of the Lennon-esque Free as a Bird.

Says Bret, In general, the concept of the CD was inspired by the existential musings of Carl Sagan and his observation that ‘The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena.’ The extension of this is to look outward, beyond our myopic viewpoints, and realize that each of us is a very small part of something much larger.

Tim continues, I see the album as a song cycle with Pale Blue Dot as the starting and ending point, it is the fulcrum of this music. All of the other songs are vignettes about people and events that take place on the Pale Blue Dot.

Official Purchase Link

Official Tim Morse Website

Tim Morse @ YouTube