From Massachusetts, 27-year-old Mason McMahon offers a contemplative listening experience on his four-track EP “town of cliché,” a project inspired by a short-lived college experience and the years he spent navigating life afterward without a degree. The record is deeply nostalgic, lived-in, and inward-looking, with an emotional pull that comes from how closely its mood is tied to personal memory.
Across all four tracks, McMahon works within a minimalist, guitar-driven lo-fi palette. The songs share a sense of mundane, late-night contemplation, and their soundscapes move naturally into one another, giving the EP a cohesive, memorable flow.
The indie-folk centerpiece is the title track, “town of cliché,” where mellow, atmospheric instrumentation frames lyrics filled with familiar nostalgic images: cracked sidewalks, streetlamps, and weeping willows. McMahon sings in a raw, understated, conversational style, using the texture of his voice to stay close to the song’s reflective mood.
His delivery often feels as if he is singing directly into the microphone from a bedroom, creating an unpolished intimacy that suits the confessional writing. A melancholic undertone runs through his soft, airy vocals, which settle easily into the mellow arrangement rather than pushing above it. His cadence remains relaxed and rhythmic, closer to speech than theatrical performance, keeping the focus on the story of his college days.
“walk #562” is built around a repetitive acoustic pattern that mirrors the steady cadence of a late-night stroll. McMahon’s guitar playing is especially assured here, with deliberate phrasing and tuning shaping the track’s motion. Heightened ambient room noise gives the production a gritty, hyper-focused “field recording” texture, while his vocal delivery keeps the song’s pensive feeling close to the surface.
Musically, “daily commute” is the busiest track on the EP. Layered soft tones and a slightly quicker guitar tempo give it more movement, while the arrangement captures the monotonous, hypnotic mental state of a repeated morning or evening routine. It is also the shortest track in the set.
“foggy” closes things in the EP’s most abstract and atmospheric mode. Its intro uses intentionally deep-phrased guitar tuning, giving the track a distinctive energy. The vocals sit deeper in the mix beneath reverb and warm tape hiss, echoing the literal and mental cloudiness suggested by the title.
Meditative and personal, “town of cliché” is streaming now on popular digital platforms such as Spotify. Check it out.