MUSIC REVIEW: MENOMENA - 'MINES'

Digging the Experimental Rock Seam & Finding Gold

By: Andrew Shaw

July 25, 2010

(Barsuk) Ten years into an interesting career, Portland trio Menomena release their fourth full-length album.  Brent Knopf, Justin Harris, and Danny Seim are each multi-instrumentalists, remaining innovative in more than just one dimension.  Toying with a loop machine, Knopf’s own invention is how the majority of songs are written, even if later the loops are dropped.  Mines certainly sounds like work at play.

If the band’s method of songwriting is experimental, the overall sound is less abstract and more accessible than may be expected.   Tracks like “Taos” open with a filthy, fuzzed, sexed-up bass, pass through sublime piano and smooth harmony before landing in splashing cymbals, cellos, and old fashioned Rock ‘n’ Roll hand-claps.  It’s a stand-out moment that will surely have radio station switchboards aglow.

“Queen Black Acid”, the opening track, sounds like lyrical hypothesis for the album: “I walked right into the rabbit door, I made myself an open book, I made myself a sitting duck” suggests how the excitement of experimentation can bring a level of vulnerability.  Sure enough, later, “Dirty Cartoons” repetitively asserts the desire: “I would like to go home.” The creature comforts of childish simplicity, familiar bodies and beds are perceived as life’s little salvations. “Bote” is a track worth mentioning, which takes Wall of Sound principles and adds several layers of insulation and secret passages for good measure.   Listen to tracks like “Lunchmeat” or “Oh Pretty Boy, You’re Such A Big Boy” with headphones; they feel like safe drugs — safe but utterly addictive.

Mines could be the best album that Menomena has released in that it’s the band’s clearest definition of themselves.  The sound stylings have increased in depth and weight.  The dynamic of the album takes a variety of tangents, but they’re all paths up the same mountain.  It’s an exciting bunch of material, not least because of its heartfelt approach.  Even in the lighter passages where humor is displayed, or in the darker moments when lyrics get close to the bone, there’s never an indication that heart or grace are forgotten.  This is one of the finest displays of band integrity — it is unwavering, good, and strong.  “Intil”, the closing track, is perfectly placed, underlining all that you’ve just heard — a punctuating conclusion that leaves a series of dots until next time…

For Fans Of: The Flaming Lips, Sixtoo, TV On The Radio, The Beta Band

Standout Tracks: “Queen Black Acid,” “Dirty Cartoons,” “Taos”