Menomena, a Portland, OR, based trio, have been picked up by City Slang for Europe and we couldn’t possibly be more excited!!! We will release their Euro debut on Augst 31, 2007. Friend and Foe shines Northwest indie songcraft through a distinct art-rock lens, illuminating the quiet recesses with an unpredictable, experimental light.
Danny Seim, Justin Harris, and Brent Knopf perform, sing, arrange, create, and destroy Menomena songs. On stage, Danny usually plays drums and sings. Justin usually plays bass, saxophone, MOOG, electric guitar, and sings. Brent usually plays a keyboard, the size of a regular coffin, bells, guitar, and sings.
They’ve released two previous albums on Portland indie label Film Guerrero, I Am the Fun Blame Monster, (which is a clever anagram for „The First Menomena Album“ and garnered a rare 8.7 rating from Pitchfork and inspired them to say: “Menomena are a hugely creative band, and they've managed to make an album that's extremely accessible yet entirely unconventional”) and Under An Hour, which consists of three lengthy instrumental compositions and is the soundtrack to a modern dance performance choreographed by a friend.
On Friend and Foe the band make a hugely exciting leap from the humble 1-mic-recording sessions of their beginnings, as their experimental rock turns into a scattered array of unlikely elements, that magically coalesce into tangible pop-ish songs. The loopy electronics and soulful vocals of the two singers are informed by the grandiose dramatics of past artrock masters though Menomena attack their chords in a much more contemporary and thoroughly unique way, thus truly expanding the possibilities of modern music. Menomena are simply put an example of an experiment gone beautifully right and we are stoked to be working with such an extraordinary bunch of talented people. Guess what! They manage to take this art to even higher forms when it comes to their live show. Menomena will hit some Europe this June/July. And they’ll be back for more proper touring in the autumn.
MENOMENA - MYSPACE
