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Monomen - EP

Reviewed by Andreas on 20th March 2006

"I wanna screeeeeeaaaaaammmmm my naaame!" shouts Monomen vocalist Kristian Rangenes on the song "Divide, Divide" and the hairs on the back of my arms stand up. It's a soul-wrenching moment of raw nerve that really hits home. For 20 seconds, Ian Curtis extends his warm grasp through the speakers as Monomen's best moment yet fades out.

Monomen play dark, drum-machine driven minimalistic rock that struggles hard to do something fresh with post-punk vibes. To a degree, they succeed. Their EP screams of teenage bedrooms in dead end towns littered with broken instruments and old records. The sound is half-dance, half-synth rock enhanced through Rangenes' Ian Curtis-esque croon. Even should Monomen fail (let's hope they don't), Rangenes has a solid future in singing.

"Bruit Sec" is the EP's second highlight, placing itself somewhere between Bloc Party, Joy Division and something quite new, its "THEY SAY YOU TALK TOO MUCH!" repetitions creating something of a shout-along moment. Stabbing guitars and floating synths end the EP on a high note.

It's not all rosy though. Some parts of the EP is overproduced, and what would otherwise be a perfect 10 record gets a bit annoying to listen to (try not to notice the barrage of reverb on the vocals, and you'll have a gorgeous experience). "Divide, Divide" also puts the other songs to shame by a long stretch. Despite this imbalance Monomen's debut is a great EP, and it will be very very interesting to see what this band gets up to in the future.

Monomen's EP is available through iTunes, and at less than four quid it's a compulsory purchase for anyone with a heart and a soul.

Rating: 7/10
Website: www.monomen.tk

Comments

Gravatar Bob says:-

Divide, Divide is a good song, i might have to get a copy of the rest of the songs from iTunes or CD if i can. I much prefer the hard copy (CD) rather than a few 1's and 0's on my hard drive.

21st March 2006 @ 00:02:42 GMT

Gravatar TommyK says:-

This band is one to definatly be followed. I hope they get bigger and tour more

3rd April 2006 @ 13:27:19 GMT

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