Moneen – Are We Really Happy With Who We Are Right Now?

Canadian outfit .Moneen. deliver with their first Vagrant Records release, Are We Really Happy With Who We Are Right Now. This, to me, is what music should be. Pure, powerful, unpredictable, and honest. With many other artists you can tell their influences just by listening to a song, but with .Moneen. it’s a whole different story. This is uncomparable to anything I’ve ever heard before, and truely more than music. This is art.

The album kicks off with the title track which doesn’t disapoint. Rapid strums and off-timed beats make this a memorable song, which really makes you wonder about ‘true’ happiness. Keep going through the album and the rock don’t stop! My personal favourite is the second song, Start Angry, End Mad which starts out with a piano intro, leading into a nonstop assault for the senses. To me the song talks about how totally blinded people can get by anger, and how they may say/do things they don’t really mean, and how they should really think about what has happened before doing something you’ll regret.

These guys don’t believe in the simple one-two beat, power chord, simple crap that many, many bands are putting out these days. With each song you hear something different, you dig deeper into what is truly .Moneen.. The whole album really diserves a good listen before anyone can really decide what they think. Personally I think this is a love/hate band, there is no fence sitting here. To me it seems to really enjoy and appreciate these songs you really have to be a fan of music itself, and have a knowledge of what it takes to write a song. If there were a song writing guideline laying around somewhere, .Moneen. would find it, rip it up and burn the remains. This is truly great music, a great band.

Pick up this album, give it a try. And if you have a chance I highly reccomend the live show. Kenny, Peter, Erik and ‘Hippy’ put on a wicked act that is hard to follow, and the ammount of tours these guys get to play on makes it easy for you to catch them play multiple times a year.