THE MEN – OPEN YOUR HEART
Brooklyn based quartet The Men push the boundaries of indie rock & roll with genre-stretching forays into country, psych, surf rock and more; with wailing guitar solos, acrobatic drumming and catchy lyrical hooks whether they’re sung or yelled at you. The band are almost schizophrenic in their musical tastes and the track listing reflects this with the opening fuzzed-out bang fest Turn it Around – with its wild yelling, clanging drums and walls of overdriven guitar – immediately followed by Animal: a country number that would sit comfortably amongst vintage Neil Young or Gram Parsons. This is then followed by an instrumental shoe-gaze number before returning to the garage racket style of the album opener. Don’t assume however that the eccentric segues between the songs is in anyway jarring, it actually feels quite natural; the group has simply compiled a list of songs that reflects the diversity of their tastes. Regardless of the odd stylistic surprise thrown in, it is still very much a rock & roll record. With Open Your Heart the group have released an album that is joyful and animated and a reminder that there’s still a lot of fun to be had in rock & roll music.
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