(this should be more) POPular #5

You know that thing when you hear a song and you can't believe it hasn't been a massive hit? Yeah, that...

For this week's featured under appreciated artist we turn to an artist born in Fargo, Dakota but with more of a big-city attitude and a very distinctive voice. She first came onto my pop radar in 2010 in a collaboration with Mark Ronson & The Business Intl. on the 'Record Collection' album ('Bang Bang Bang'), she was responsible for the   'Je to plumerai la, tete' refrain that lodged itself in my brain for weeks. The vocalist in question is Amanda Warner, or in this case MNDR.

Amanda started he career early this century when she formed the three-piece electropop band Triangle and released 2 albums. After releasing an album under her own name and being the opening act for a range of acts from Massive Attack to Duran Duran she adopted the moniker of MNDR. In 2010 she released her début EP as MNDR, 'E.P.E'. 

2012 heralded the start of the next chapter with the release of the first single from her upcoming début album 'Feed Me Diamonds', the absolutely cracking '#1 in Heaven', written about the high-profile kidnapping of heiress Patty Hearst. 

This was the followed by the equally poptastic single 'Faster Horses', the video is batshit bonkers and I bloody love it!

This then brings us to our featured song this week, the gorgeous, pulsating title track 'Feed Me Diamonds', a master class in fragile, heartbreaking electropop. 

'Lie with me, lie to me,

Dismantle me, do it slowly.

My hands, my feet, my voice, take everything,

Reduce it all to crystal blackness."

A stark intro showcases that amazing bubbling bassline that serves as a perfect counterpoint to MNDR's voice, dripping with fragility. When the beat kicks in at the start of the second verse it adds some drive but we're kept on the edge of euphoria by MNDR's heartbreaking vocal, every quiver or crack drives a dagger through the heart. The feeling on surrender is all-consuming.

The video features RuPaul's Drag Race alumni Raven, showing her transformation from David to Raven and shows her performing the song, a favourite of hers that she often includes in her live shows. 

Absolutely bloody gorgeous!

You can follow MNDR on social media

twitter - @MNDR

facebook - MNDR 

instagram - @mndr_official