Menomena - Mines

Menomena
Mines

****

Portland experimental rock three-piece Menomena have a more unusual writing process than most groups of their stature, laying down loops by the dozen before slowly assembling the resulting audio mess into distinct songs in the comfort of their bedrooms. Either they were working to sharper schematics than in the past, or they’ve honed the process to a fine art – Mines is their most coherent yet consistently surprising release to date.

Surprising in every sense, too. A track like ‘Taos’ rolls along quite nicely in alt-rock cruise control before veering through half a dozen musical flourishes – strings, a lone arpeggiated piano, a choir of Loony Tunes extras, slickly irregular drum licks from Danny Seim, sudden Zepplinesque guitar vom. And Brent Knopf’s not-quite-unlikeable yowl provides the pivot on which the whole thing turns; a sweetly unassuming lyrical come-on developing the confessional overtones of a serial sex addict. More exhilarating ground-dropping-away-beneath-you moments in the space of one song than many manage in an entire album.

Menomena draw their emotional oomph by picking through the detritus of failed relationships, and they do it in lyrical style: ‘you’re five foot five, not a hundred pounds / I’m scared to death of every single ounce’ (‘Queen Black Acid’). But Mines pulls together far too much diverse musical territory for it ever to become depressing; more moments of consummate awesomeness include the ascending piano hook and girl-group back-up vocals on ‘Oh Pretty Boy, You’re Such a Big Boy’ or the bitter twist of the saxophone on ‘Five Little Rooms’.

Full of surprises, this is one of the most endlessly listenable rock releases of the year.


First published in The Brag, Iss. 376, August 23rd 2010