In late 2003, Menomena rocketed to acclaim from self-released obscurity in a matter of months. For a lot of bands, the vault to fame (at least fame in the world of blogs and webzines and music junkies) would be either paralyzing or ego-inflating, but neither affliction seems to have come over them. They simply took their time, toured a bit, re-issued their debut on a label, and refined their craft.
Under an Hour, Menomena's honestly-titled second album (it's 54 minutes long), is frankly so different from their debut that it's hardly worth comparing the two. For one thing, it's made up of three long instrumentals composed to soundtrack the work of a dance troupe called the Monster Squad, a nominal association that seems almost too perfect. Menomena originally played these three compositions over a three-day span at the T:BA:04 time-based art festival in Portland, Ore., each one accompanying a different Monster Squad routine-- judging from the photos on their website, it was an interesting series of performances. The titles of the songs straightforwardly describe the foreign materials used during each dance: "Water", "Flour", and "Light".
Of course, when you listen to the album, you can't see anyone dancing, so how cool it all looked and sounded when it was happening is somewhat moot. That's okay; unlike many soundtrack/installation pieces, it's quite listenable on its own, falling roughly in the same chamber music realm as Rachel's or Max Richter, though more stretched out and less orchestral. In a way, it's a logical extension of the way the band uses shifting textures and musical juxtapositions in the service of its pop songs. Each piece embodies a handful of themes and cycles its way unhurried through them, returning to them occasionally and slowly altering the instrumentation. Each piece has multiple tension points and crescendos to keep your ear engaged for a hard listen, but it honestly works best as background music.
"Water" is, humorously, the most fluid piece on the album, opening with a disarming banjo part and relying primarily on piano for its backbone. Acoustic guitar and what sounds like violin but might not be give the music heavy emotional weight, but the lack of a sturdy rhythm track makes it simultaneously dreamy and inviting. "Flour" is the most rhythm-conscious song, built mainly around a staccato sax figure and featuring some stunning crescendoes built around cymbal-heavy drumming. Glockenspiel tinkles in the background, balancing the aggression of the sax part and smoothly introducing the piano-dominated mid-section. "Light" layers long guitar and organ drones for more than five minutes, flirting with unsettling dissonance. Rhythm slowly begins to emerge through mild interruptions until finally we're left with nothing but a steady morse-code pulse, which the band then builds into the next section with clipped percussion samples and, ultimately, live drumming.
Luckily, Menomena's artistic success doesn't seem to be changing them a great deal. Their website is still absolutely mind-melting, they've applied a superfluous parental advisory sticker to their album art, and they're as musically adventurous as ever.
