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CD review: Menomena
By Christopher Gilmore
cgilmo10@mscd.edu

Menomena Friend and Foe (Barsuk Records, 2007)

Menomena’s Friend and Foe is the unseasonably pleasant day during a week of subzero temperatures. The music’s vague familiarity warms, yet the distance from the icy norm causes the slightest bit of unease to creep in.

Portland-based Menomena is an experimental rock band that has just released its second full-length album, Friend and Foe, on Barsuk Records. As the title suggests, this disc is full of ambiguous contrasts. Every track is loaded with a schizophrenic collection of percussion, guitars, piano and noises familiar enough for recognition but not identification. Sometimes they are arranged with tender melodies, and other times awkward combinations bolster the more aggressive side.

he song “Rotten Hell” embodies this contradiction. The mellow consistency of the piano dominates the music while gentle vocals sing, “I’ve got a strangle hold on this decision / All those opposed can rot in hell.” The song reaches its crescendo as the lyrics tell of a boy finally realizing what it means to “take this outside.”

All three members of the band share vocal duties, and each voice fits nicely with its respective track. In “Ghostship,” the raspy vocals are just memorable enough to notice until the backing harmonies are added. By the time the voice is abruptly cut short, all three members are being vocally utilized. Their mid-sentence stop forces attention toward the looped guitar solo that is just as quickly cut for the simple piano that repeats as the rest of the instruments fade away. As an experimental rock album, Friend and Foe allows for all of the egocentricities associated with the genre, but the band’s looping technique lulls one to comfort, making this album accessible to the masses.

The contradiction in “Weird” lies between the lyrics and the music. The lyrics take the nonpretentious road with lines like, “I know you love to hear yourself speak words that you think I can’t follow” and “It’s clear that you have a real gift of gab and I’m just jealous.” But the humble stance of the lyrics is quickly forgotten as the list of sounds appearing in this song boast of Menomena’s knowledge and technique. The instruments range from a circus-esque trumpet to a synthesized bass line to jingle bells. This track alone employs enough instruments to discourage anyone from starting a band.

Friend and Foe is 12 tracks of confusion based in truth. While a lot of experimental bands say, “Here are some good ideas backed up with a lot of noise beyond understanding, but trust us, it’s good,” Menomena’s excitement about creating music and using innovative sounds is obvious, even if the contradictions are equally as clear.