indy cd & vinyl

Menomena takes a more willfully idiosyncratic approach to their pop-rock songs (“art-pop,” anyone?) than the above-mentioned Shins, but that does not lessen the beauty of their work. The opener “muscle ‘n flo” encompasses the elements that make their music both unique and gorgeous.  A stuttery drum beat and elastic bass-line give way to spoken-sung lyrics that make you think you’ve got the band pegged as another variant on the Talking Heads/Neutral Milk Hotel school of modern indie-rock. But then a beautiful, Brit-influenced melody comes to the fore and a church-like organ crashes in, lifting the song to a soaring, emotional crescendo. Then things go back to the stuttering drum and bass. Such juxtapositions are found throughout Friend And Foe. Stately piano is combined with angular guitar lines, dissonant guitar chords are placed underneath beautiful melodies, and stomping percussion is followed by sing-along whistling. The band builds their songs from improvised loops arranged with custom-built software. But the key is how well the band uses this starting point to create tunes that wed old-fashioned melodic pop to willful experimentation in a way that generates emotional responses in the listener, and it is this emotional element that sets the band apart.  While their first album, I Am the Fun Blame Monster focused on feelings of (appropriately enough) unmitigated fun, Friend and Foe adds moments which delve into more minor-key, contemplative, and melancholy territory. Simply put, adventuresome, quirky, even schizophrenic approaches to melodic rock have become commonplace over the years, but Menomena seems to know that, at the end of each musical journey, an emotional payoff is the best reward.