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Apr 21, 2020 Dre Babinski By Christopher Roberts Photography by Dan Monick

Man Man, the project led by Honus Honus (aka Ryan Kattner), are releasing their first album in almost seven years, Dream Hunting in the Valley of the In-Between, on May 1 via Sub Pop, Man Man’s first album for the label. Now they have shared another song from it, “On the Mend.” The song features backing vocals from Dre Babinski (aka Steady Holiday) and Rebecca Black (yes, that’s the Rebecca Black who had a 2011 hit with “Friday”). Check it out below.

Kattner had this to say about the song in a press release: “I wrote this a year or so after a painful break-up and although I was in a better place at the time, I wanted to touch on all of those raw emotions someone has to work through in order to get healthy and able to love themselves again. Musically, the tempo, the push, and pull of the band, the openness of it all just drives this home. So, yes, it’s a bit of a heavy song but I think it’s also one about hope, healing, letting go and moving on. The heart can be cruel but you can’t let it consume you.”

Previously Man Man shared the album’s first single, “Cloud Nein,” via a Kattner-directed lyric video for the new song. “Cloud Nein” was one of our Songs of the Week. Then they shared another song from it, “Future Peg,” via a strange Stephanie Ward-directed video for the song. “Future Peg” was also one of our Songs of the Week.

Dream Hunting in the Valley of the In-Between is the follow-up to 2013’s On Oni Pond. Since then Kattner has released a solo album, a children’s music album, and an album as a member of Mister Heavenly. But it took him a long time to get back to Man Man. Dream Hunting in the Valley of the In-Between was written over a three-and-a-half-year period while Kattner lived in a friend’s guest house in Los Angeles. Kattner pointed out in a previous press release that it was more of shack than a fancy guest house and had “an old upright piano, a thrift store lamp, and nothing else.”

“I had chord progression notes that looked like chicken scratch and lyrics on pieces of paper stuck all over the walls. It looked like I was about to break the big case, catch the killer,” Kattner said of the period. “One of the best things about this time, in these ‘lost in the wilderness/surreal exile from my own band’ years, was that I finally found players who believed in me, trusted my vision, respected my songwriting. It was rejuvenating.”

Cyrus Ghahremani produced Dream Hunting in the Valley of the In-Between, which was mixed by S. Husky Höskulds and mastered by Dave Cooley.

In 2019 Man Man did release two new songs, “Beached” and “Witch,” as part of the Sub Pop Singles Club. Neither song is featured on the album.

Reflecting the origins of the band in the previous press release, Kattner said: “I started Man Man because I saw Holy Mountain when I was 22. It blew my mind. I had never been in a band or played music before, but I knew I needed to make songs that sounded like that movie felt. When I was hunkering down to write, there was a lot of self-doubt, fighting the urge to throw in the towel. It was unavoidable but I had to dive headlong into these fears and twist them into something that wasn’t dominated by them. I’m not gonna lie, it fucking sucked, but it definitely forced the best album of my career out of me. Sometimes you have to tear it all down to build it back up the right way.”

Summing up his worldview, Kattner added: “You have to keep changing, evolving in order to survive, appreciate what you have while you have it because there are no guarantees it’ll stick around forever. AKA, life.”

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