Menomena w/Guards: at The Mercy Lounge (Nashville, TN) Sat. February 23, 2013

Menomena w/Guards

Pop/Rock

Nashville Scene Critic's Pick …

When Brent Knopf ran off to focus on his Ramona Falls project in 2011, the future of Menomena — one of Portland, Ore.,’s more genuinely adventurous indie rock acts — looked hazy at best. The band’s fourth LP, 2010’s Mines, had already been tangled up in numerous false starts and delays. And with Knopf now out of the picture, fellow founding members Danny Seim and Justin Harris had to regroup as a duo. Fortunately, the bump in the road wound up sending Menomena into some intriguing new territory — particularly on the lyrical front — as Seim and Harris each went a bit psychoanalytical for their latest album, Moms. Mixing the playfulness of The Flaming Lips with the melodrama of The National, the record is indeed about both musicians’ complex relationships with their mothers. But hey, rock out with your Freud out.

—ANDREW CLAYMAN