Menomena - Friend and Foe

Oregon's experimental trio, Menomena, are back again with their newest release, "Friend and Foe". With a sound similar to Animal Collective and The Books, Menomena provides an extremely unique sound with the inclusion of emotional vocals and unusual instrumentation.

What I find truly remarkable about the new Menomena release is how the group, although directly portrayed as a pop group, easily borders a darker and sadder sound while still illustrating an uplifting message through the music. Although the instrumentals are mainly major keyed and uniquely crafted with unusual instrumentation such as the glockenspiel and saxophone, the vocals are what brings a darker message to the table. With heartbreaking lyrics such as "Cover your ears, cover your eyes, cover your mouths. Silence, blindness, tasteless, violence", a darker message is portrayed through the vocals. Along with this, the vocal melodies themselves are often hushed and frightened, as if the overall picture the group is trying to illustrate is from the perspective of an innocent bystander witnessing the creation of something awful.

The one major flaw Menomena presents in this new album is the lack of flow between each song. Every song on "Friend and Foe" is a masterpiece by itself. But with each song brings a new mood and atmosphere, and as each piece comes to an end, the listener is left with a cliffhanger state of mind. The overall resolution of the album as a whole has ceased to exist because of this factor alone. Each song should be a chapter to an overwhelming story, but in "Friend and Foe", the emphasis is more on each song individually and not on the album. This is not necessarily a bad thing, however. Many people focus on a group's positive traits through their individual songs and not their albums.

In conclusion, Menomena have successfully written and recorded 12 great songs. But because of the lack of flow between the tracks, the album's message is shallow and weak. This is a talented group with great skill, but it's hard to fall in love with this album.