Menomena

According to Bernoullis principle, when an incompressible fluid passes from a large area into a smaller one, as when a wide pipe funnels into a narrow passage, the fluids velocity rapidly increases. That idea has dozens of practical uses, from the operation of airplane wings to the function of your automobiles carburetor. Its a key part of computer production and the basis of cutting-edge work in the field of hydraulics. And, as strange as it might sound, the legacy work of 18th century European mathematician Daniel Bernoulli also adequately describes the process behind and product of Moms, the fifth and best album to date by Portlands Menomena.

During the last decade, Menomena has become its own reference point. From hooks wrapped around plummeting baritone saxophone lines and nearly inhuman rhythms to serpentine lyrical frameworks and high-concept album art, Menomena has established a singular and unmistakable aesthetic. No one else sounds quite like this band. They embed magic and mystery within pop songs that have never sat still or taken the path of least pressure, just as Bernoulli would have had it.

Since 2010s irrepressible and intricate Mines, though, the pipe has narrowed: Menomena co-founder Brent Knopf took his leave to focus on his solo project causing Justin Harris and Danny Seimclose friends since high school and now well into their second decade of making music togetherto recast Menomena as a duo. As science might have predicted, they didnt slow down; they actually sped up, writing, recording and releasing Moms with more focus and speed than ever before.

Harris and Seim didnt invite loads of friends or collaborators to replace Knopf; they made these songs as a duo, intent on provingdirectly to themselves, and by extension, to everyone elsethat Menomena essentially remains the same brazen band responsible for Friend and Foe, Under an Hour and all the gut-punch, pop-ambition moments therein. They added new instruments, like flute, cello, more of Seims synthesizers and the tap-dancing that actually laces through the teasing-then-charging opus, Dont Mess with Latexas. For the first time, Harris and Seim, who each contribute five songs here, talked about what they were writing, too. Seim explored the death of his mother when he was but a teenager, while Harris investigated the way his own family dynamica single mom, with a departed dadleft indelible impressions on everything hes done since. The albums pieces connect, then, addressing how people must rise to face or flee circumstances beyond their control. Its perhaps the most appropriately imaginable prompt for a band whose last two years have depended upon their ability to explore, adapt and improve.

The result, Moms, is tragic and intimate, comic and endearing, personal and motivated. In 10 songs and just less than 50 minutes, Harris and Seim cast pop cascades into noise kaleidoscopes (Baton), chop and twist a melody until it becomes a big dance beat (Capsule), and build inescapable arrays of tension and texture that finally release (Tantalus). Opener Plumage couples its surge of energy with a cleverly playful study of sexuality, while Pique turns the same sort of seemingly impossible tessellated-rhythm tricks that have become a Menomena trademark.

At the close of it all, the slow strangle of One Horse arrives as the most poignant moment yet in Menomenas catalogue, piano plinking and strings sliding beneath Seims existential evasion. Its the perfect summary statement for Moms, an album that explores both a new vulnerability and resiliency within Menomena, a duo thats taken change not as an excuse to opt out but instead as a catalyst for growth.

Moms is out September 18th via Barsuk Records. Grayson Currin