Menomena Mines
Out July 27 via Barsuk Records
Stream it for free at NPR now.
The Portland music scene has given birth to many lauded musicians and is often considered one of the meccas of American indie rock. Included in that scene is experimental rock band, Menomena. The band's latest album Mines, proves that Portland musicians continue to be superlative in their capabilities of producing indie rock.
While past albums such as Friend and Foe paid close attention to detail, Mines takes Menomena's precision and perfectionism to another level. Each song is layered and carefully crafted, resulting in an album that is not raw in sound, but in emotion.
Poignant piano coupled with Built to Spill-esque electric guitar and Brent Knopf's distinctive vocals on "Tithe" gives the album a more emotionally-charged feel. "BOTE" speeds things up with bombastic drumming and electric guitar reminiscent of screeching motorcycles down a highway. Both songs create a wholly different sound, which is true to the rest of the album; it never once succumbs to monotony.
"Queen Black Acid", which is the opener, is one of the more simplistic songs on the album. With its skeletal drumming and quiet guitar, the song manages to prepare the listener for the rest of the album, which is complex and ambitious. This may be due in part to the looping software that the band used to create the album. The software, called Dealer, was created by Knopf while he attended Dartmouth college.
As a whole, the album is beautiful because it is simultaneously imbued with a hope and a sadness that is so intrinsically human. If anyone does not see this in the album, then they simply aren't looking hard enough. Mines stands out as one of the most honest albums of 2010 and will surely remain to be seen as so.
-Katie
