Last month, I received a mysterious cold-sent email from St. Petersburg, Florida-based artist and multi-instrumentalist William "Billy" Summer. Summer is, actually "the devastatingly handsome" frontman of a hit-making band of merry Rock "N" Roll misfits called Luxury Mane. In my "humble" opinion, Luxury Mane appear to painstakingly create a unique blend of Dream Pop/Psych Rock reminiscent of The Shins, Broken Bells, The Flaming Lips, T.Rex, The Kinks, Pavement, and The Beach Boys. Billy Summer graciously sent me a care package containing 3 Luxury Mane albums on colored vinyl: Gold Standard (2014,) Lux Runnin' Out (2016,) and their latest creation, Domestic Bliss. Lux Mane are part of Florida UK, a local scene/collective, and were, actually, birthed out of another one of Billy Summer's now-defunct bands, The Semis. Luxury Mane admittedly, don't tour very often because their one-time bass player, "J. Lux" Schultz, currently lives in Brooklyn, but attest they "love to make records." Lux Mane generally, only tour about two weeks out of the year, but have been fortunate enough to garner placements on HBO, Sundance Channel, and a variety of popular TV networks, along with The Semis' oft-used "Fun In The Sun."


Billy Summer AKA B. Lux, J. Lux, guitarist Aaron Kyle Nelson AKA A. Lux and drummer Kyle "K. Lux" Lovell recorded half of Domestic Bliss directly to tape on a TASCAM 388 and the other half to a MOTU recording device. It was recorded under the weight of Billy Summer's chemo treatments (he's currently cancer-free!) was "produced with love and hate," and is admittedly, "equal parts Supertramp and Vain." Luxury Mane themselves brazenly describe Domestic Bliss as the best LUX record yet, which effortlessly runs the full gamut of musical styles from " Psychedelic Yacht Rock to slinky black skating rink Glitter Rock." After listening to my recently acquired vinyl-only care package, I would, also, attest that Domestic Bliss is, indeed, the quintessential Luxury Mane collection; it's as charismatic and unique as the record's own album cover, which showcases Billy & Zoe's luxurious, retro-stylized pad. Domestic Bliss was accompanied by a grainy music video for album stand-out "Isn't That The Way?" directed by Robert Dennard The III, who also, shot the aforementioned vibrant album cover. Domestic Bliss, along with the band's complete discography, is now exclusively available on limited edition colored vinyl directly from Luxury Mane's Bandcamp page, as well as similarly-minded digital streaming services.