‘Mambo’ feels like an incredibly intimate piece of minimalist song writing. Filled with light ambient sounds all around a driving and singularly intimate and emotive jazz saxophone that’s as intricate as it is minimal. The subtle guitar elements and the sax were all entirely produced and played by Oan himself at his home studio in Paris. It’s a serenading piece, one that’s feeling is accentuated by the artful and minimal video it comes alongside. There’s a brooding tension behind the piece also, one that the subtle but foreboding bassline perfectly captures. The shift from darkness to light in the video, coinciding with the onset of the vocal performance sets this story into such a pointed motion.
Sonically, the palette matches the direction exquisitely. It’s got a strange tinge of classical intertwined with contemporary, all the while maintaining the outward jazz dominant tuning. That sinister yet cheeky tone throughout the song’s mood is displayed in the lyrics which highlight a compulsive liar enjoying the seemingly hilarious outcomes of his lies. Masterful and artful all at once.