The Men's previous album, Open Your Heart, was one of last year's best. A twisty betrayer of expectations, it came on like a fist before blooming into layer after layer, winding through style after style, and ending up somewhere inward and strange.
By 2013 the cat is out of the bag - guess our boys will have to one-up themselves huh?
You could do that. But instead, New Moon is a reboot, with all the raw energy of an early live show, the kind of racket made by hungry lads who've never cut an album, each flaying their hearts out just to get a chance. The guitars are overstrummed, the drums a bit too busy, the vocals ragged, the whole pacing just a step too fast, tripping just ahead of itself, bathing the entire sound in prickly tension. This is isn't the kind of thing you put out after an album as well-composed as Open Your Heart. It's a conundrum.
It's also pretty goddamn good, full of that signature busy, buzzy Men guitar texture, some hooky, unpredictable songwriting, and yes, that relentless spirit, balancing post-punk repetition against punk-punk fury at every turn. You might miss that perfect pacing, that Open Your Heart magic. But heck, you know, its like, if you're doing a magic show, and you do your best trick, and then you're out of tricks, just wade into the crowd and punch someone in the face. There's more than one way to give the people their money's worth 4/5
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