MONEEN
The Red Tree
Vagrant
· For their third release, Vagrant’s Canadian contingent goes big.
With a good sense of humour and penchant for novella-length song titles, Moneen’s brand of self-deprecating emo has always been hooky if sometimes oblique. Vocalist Kenny Bridges can wail like the best of them and on The Red Tree he pushes his vocals to the edge of melody while the rest of the band concentrates on giving their guitars a workout. The result is massive to be sure, but producer Brian McTernan fills every space, leaving almost no room for the songs to breathe.
With frantic drum work and feedback-soaked riffs dominating the album, it comes as a relief when Moneen take it down on the more introspective tracks. Soaked in pathos, songs like "This is All Bigger Than Me" aren’t nearly as interesting, but they do bring a balance to the album. The Red Tree isn’t as immediately captivating as other Moneen releases, but for sheer unrelenting power and epic scope, it rises head and shoulders above the work of their contemporaries.
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