Mnemosyne's debut album builds slowly with a solid if sleepy foundationof guitar, bass, and drums that wouldn't sound out of place in theKranky or Constellation stables. The Toronto trio is fronted (if that'sreally the right word) by experimental guitarist Aidan Baker, whosevoice on the title track rises just barely above a whisper in a stylereminiscent of early Labradford. But from there, Mnemosyne depart fromthe somnambulant formula of muted minimalism by swelling guitars upwith distortion and kicking in drums and crashing cymbals. The resultis a bit darker, more psychadelic, and more varied than their post-rockforebares, but it also results in something that probably has a muchwider appeal. It wouldn't be far off to imagine my stoner friends fromHigh School who went to Pink Floyd laser light shows getting seriouslyinto Mnemosyne's hypnotic twirls of guitar and dubbed-out percussion,but recovering goths will also appreciate the atmosphere of tracks like"Dark Grove" and "Unreal Space." Thankfully, Mnemosyne seem lessconcerned with whether they are impressing the weepy Projekt crowd orthe Drag City chin strokers, and they carry on making moody,genre-hopping space rock. Occassionally, as on the 12 minute albumcloser "Aqualisp," the instrumentation gets a bit too dry and literal,causing the psyche-improv to drift uncomfortably close to jam-bandterritory where it feels like every instrument needs room for a solo.Luckily, Rodin Columb's straightforward bass holds everything togetherjust long enough for the band to get back on track as they rip into theloudest creshendo (saved somewhat predictably for the end). Though theynever really achieve all out ROCK,they do manage to crank the volume, distortion, and delay on everythingto give the album's trip a final dose of hash-fueled paranoia. AlhoughMnemosyne can easily be seen as a confluence of influences that havedone this sort of thing before, their own take on a soundtrack for thatbad-acid trip is well worth exploring. It somehow manages to be bothfamiliar and disorienting at the same time which is kind of creepy, butgood. Read More
