SERENA MANEESH - Serena Maneesh Review

Perhaps the least plausible of Fountains of Wayne’s character sketches is that of “Leave the Biker” from their debut. For one thing, it’s difficult to believe that there’s an overlap between Chris Collingswood and a motorcycle enthusiast’s choice of love interest. Secondly, it speaks volumes about Fountains of Wayne’s kitschy and antiquated worldview that a biker is still considered a paragon of coolness....full text Something somewhere is about to erupt. Through keys, beats, static and frostbitten vocal cords a dull throbbing under your feet grows from resolute aching to a buzzing, twitching cacophony. With their self-titled debut album, Serena Maneesh draw from the greatest protagonists of both rock and post-rock to construct something that, while derivative, is also undoubtedly theirs....full text It all starts so innocently. Drain Cosmetics, the opener to the self-titled debut from Norway's Serena-Maneesh, introduces us to a noisy ethereal guitar sound influenced heavily by Sonic Youth and The Velvet Underground. Until the vocals arrive it could almost be Waiting For My Man all over again, but band leader Emil Nikolaisen (the one with the Chick Corea moustache) and Lina Holström make a more ethereal vocal combination - Nikolaisen recalling Ian Brown whilst Holström floats somewhere between Nico and Saint Etienne's Sarah Cracknell. If that sounds good, it is....full text