Melenas - Dias Raros

The long awaited mainstream release by Spanish four-piece Melenas is released by Trouble in Mind on Friday 8th May.

A bracing shot of adrenaline for the senses following a long period of docileness, this is a winning formula for fans of indie rock music.

For the band this is a step in the direction of more mainstream awareness across Europe following a long period of admiration in their native Spain.

From album opener 'Primer Tiempo' the intent is clear and what resonates most for the first time listener is to hear the tightness and unity of the group, the level of musicianship on display is a wonder to behold. 

There is a hum an energy that thrusts through the album from the indie-pop jangle of the album opener to 'Los Alemanes', but there is also opportunity for melody and slower moments on this swelling work.

The waltz of album closer 'Vals' is testament to this as is the gorgeous 'Ciencia Ficcion' that offers a chance for the band to engage with melancholic content with great cascading voices coupling with guitar waves.

This is a punk album for indie fans, and an indie sounding album for the stubborn punk fan.  The band hail from Pamplona, a region of Spain most famous for people being chased by bulls through the streets.  In this case, Melenas take the bull by the horns announcing themselves to the world and created a foundation full of influences both musically and culturally in a space full of promise and bursting verve.

Dias Roras is released by Trouble in Mind records, and the first label outside of Spain to release Melenas to the world.

En Attendant Ana 'Juillet'

Second album by Parisian quintet released by Trouble in Mind on 24th January

En Attendant Ana is a five-piece from Paris, France who are quietly making waves and gathering further acclaim through muso circles, and the difficult second album shows a broadening of the ambition shown in the debut album Lost and Found from 2018.

Trouble in Mind are releasing the second album also, and it marks the a band going through transition after the addition of guitarist, Maxence Tomasso.  Recorded by Vincent Hivert and Alexis Fugain over the course of one week in isolation in rural France.

Songs on Juillet are ones of hope despite the melancholic tone with triumphant trumpets swelling amid the lyrics of accepting loss but towards a new found sense of self and indepence.

The songs may be about the end of something, yet the beginning of another era - these songs are more focused than the first album, more hooks garner greater attention.

The band admit listening to more shoegazing, dream pop from across the spectrum including the likes of Cocteau Twins, Stereolab, Cate Le Bon and The Breeders; yet the band the album made this listener recall most fondly was the debut album of The Maccabees - a band of joyous infectiousness who could craft a winning tune and perhaps also Bombay Bicycle Club who themselves released a new album last week.

Both those bands share the same line of best fit with En Attendant Ana - a soulful band who want to sing about love, loss and dreams - playing with a lilt and float fitting for a summer sojourn.

This album is already one of the best listens of 2020 thus far, an album full of joy and unbridled ambition that could easily crossover from a niche of European to become an indie staple.

Juillet is released by Trouble In Mind on 24th January worldwide.

My thanks to One Beat PR for the review opportunity.

Eerie Wanda 'Pet Town'

Eerie Wanda returns with her second album, Pet Town, released from Joyful Noise on 25th January.

Eerie Wanda is the brainchild of audio and visual artist Marina Tadic, born to Croatian parents and resides now in the Netherlands.

Her second LP, following her 2016 debut Hum, is a credit to creativity fostered in isolation. Tadic along with band mates - Jasper Verhulst and Jeroen de Heuvel - utilises minimal recording techniques incorporating her unique vocal quality to create ten songs of loneliness yet become jaunty warm numbers.

Lyrics cover topics such as boredom to isolation, to a love of hometown and why it keeps calling you back yet based around the notion of solitiude.  Yet there is a drive and determination to this record which can be heard on tracks such as 'Magnetic Woman' with its lovely harmonies and repeating basslines, to the wistful 'Moon' which winningly shows Tadic's vocal dexterity.

Eerie Wanda - Marina Tadic 

From title track, 'Pet Town' there is a perkiness about the album helped by the homespun sounds of repeating handclaps, finger snaps - as heard in 'Rockabiller'.  This sunny feeling is in contrast to the aforementioned lyrics of remoteness, but this juxtaposition and mesh of contrasting emotions makes for a record that is both winning and reassuring.

Pet Town is available from Joyful Noise Records

Holy Motors 'Slow Sundown'

Estonian band Holy Motors's debut is an amalgamation of songs that are part-Gothic part-slow music incorporating an array of influences from the theme of Twin Peaks to other ambient electronic music.

Certainly not to the liking of everyone who will listen to it, there are pleasing moments of levity and contemplation.

This is music for the soul of the soulful, night music played between strangers, a soundtrack to nocturnal music.

The eight tracks can be construed as mournful and euphoric depending upon the ear of the listener; mood music for the lonely.

The best track Valley though serves as a good balance of ambience and optimism

Slow Sundown is out from Wharf Cat Records now