Serena-Maneesh
The US government should reconsider their choice of music for use in torture: instead of Metallica, Serena-Maneesh would be far more effective. Each song sounds as if it could potentially be good, but good beginnings are dragged out to last at least six minutes. Add to the boredom of that off-tempo, distant vocals, random sounds issued from various different instruments (also out of time), and off-key guitar solos, and after three songs (or less), one begins to feel as if someone is scraping their nails along the inside of your skull.
Sometimes they are almost successful in attempting a pop or indie sound, but the rest of the time their attempts to branch out and do something different are, well, too far out there. There’s a reason no one’s tried these ideas before: they’re rubbish. Like many Nordic bands they have a fascination with draggingly long songs (perhaps it has something to do with the long winters) and this, along with the bizarre noises masking their musical proficiency, is their downfall.
The non-structure of their songs is clearly meant to be questioning traditional song writing, which is admirable as an aspiration, but in practice simply makes listening a chore
Reviewed by
Emma Fite-Wassilak
Out 26/06/06
