LOS ANGELES TIMES -- Sunday Calendar II
October 22, 2006

FAST TRACKS

OVER the course of five albums, an EP and various soundtrack contributions, songwriter-chanteuse Eleni Mandell has resisted becoming affixed in the public imagination with any specific genre.

The local indie darling — who has been anointed best songwriter by LA Weekly and best singer by Los Angeles magazine — seems equally at ease applying her sultry alto to bluesy punk, power pop-rock (as frontwoman for the Grabs), alt-country, sophisticated cabaret and even three-part harmonies with another of her various side projects, the Living Sisters. And Mandell's sexed-up cover version of Cole Porter's "I Love Paris" (used in a Carl's Jr. TV commercial featuring a bikini-clad Paris Hilton) sold a few thousand iTunes downloads.

But on Mandell's sixth album, "Miracle of Five" (due in February), the native Angeleno makes a strenuous effort to sound like someone in particular: herself. "It's not somebody else's version of country music — I feel like I really found my voice," she says. "It's just me doing what I do: a mood record that's very beautiful and magical sounding."

Toward that end, producer Andy Kaulkin (president of Anti- Records) put Mandell's slow-burn singing style and conversational lyrics at the forefront of the mix by using a recording technique the singer had never tried before. He recorded her vocals and acoustic guitar first, then overdubbed the other musicians — Wilco lead guitarist Nels Cline and X drummer DJ Bonebrake (playing vibes) among them.

"I have a low register and can't really project my voice as well as I'd like," says Mandell, 37. "So not having drums or electric guitars in my headphones made me just relax and play the songs like I write them. Just me and my guitar."

Chris Lee