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Menomena Biography
Menomena: Mines
“There’s nothing quite like trying to capture the spirit of art rock in a series of painstakingly tuned paragraphs without coming off as pretentious or verbose. Especially when you’re writing about your own band. We probably should have hired someone to draft this for us, if only to give the illusion of an objective third party saying flattering things about our new record, instead of having to take personal ownership of every sentiment voiced here. No one wants to sound self indulgent, on top of it all. But that’s what any home-recorded band comes down to. What’s more indulgent than spending every day listening to your own voice isolated in headphones for two years straight? That’s pretty much what I’ve been doing lately.
It’s been three-and-a-half years since the release of our last album. Roughly two of those years were spent touring and working on the music contained on Mines, and the rest was spent continuing to work on the new music and on arguing over it. On one hand, it seems like forever. On the other hand…well no, it still seems like forever. Nothing holds up a process like an indispensable band member being both a perfectionist and a control freak. Especially when your band features three of these types. And we certainly haven’t gotten any more agreeable in our old age – quite the opposite.
However, in the wake of brutal disagreements, unrelenting grudges and failed marriages (not to mention a world full of modern terrorism, natural disasters and economic collapse) somehow this band is still standing.
Mines was constructed the same way we’ve always made music: We jammed and recorded hundreds of loops spontaneously, using the same ol’ trusty software program Brent wrote as a college assignment back in the day. We individually pieced the resulting loops together like jigsaw puzzles, adding in voices and sentimentality. We made big strides building skeletal song structures, and did a decent job collaborating as the ideas began to take shape. But just when a song became familiar to one of us, the other two members broke it apart again, breaking each others’ hearts along the way. We rerecorded, rebuilt, and ultimately resented each other. And believe it or not, we’re all proud of the results.
I should have started this thing off with a catchy headline. Something like, “Mines will blow off your limbs like an Italian VS-50!” or, “Get ready to strike gold in the mineral-rich soil of Mines!” But again, I can’t speak too smugly here. So then, Mines. Land mines, ore mines, plural possessive “mines”? All of the above, I guess… But mostly the latter. I’m just realizing now that I’ve already illustrated the possessive by choosing to write this myself.
As usual, the end somehow justifies the means. It’s done, and it’s the best record we could make at this time in our lives. Thank you for listening.
Love,
Danny / Menomena”