Life is full of surprises. The most pleasant ones generally reach out and grab you when you are least expecting it. In the case of Mensen's latest release, Oslo City, I was expecting little after enduring the forceful experience of trying to make myself like their much-hyped debut album from 2001, Delusions of Grandeur.
The referenced hype stems largely from the liaison of Mensen's vocalist and rhythm guitarist, Mary Currie, to the grand pooh-bah of the whole Scandi-rawk movement in Nicke Andersson of Hellacopters/Stockholm, Sweden fame. Tie this in with the fact that Mensen are from the current dirty rawk n' roll hotbed of Oslo, Norway, and it's easy to see where their pedigree should be viewed as honorable.
Oslo City is an album that pays as much of a visual homage
to the band's roots as Currie's stage name salutes Cherrie Curie of
Runaways fame and lead guitarist's Christine Sixteen's handle pays
tribute to KISS. It's also an album that features tighter guitar
hooks and frankly, better songs than their first effort. What
remains though is a swift charge of punk-inspired brilliance with
definite Runaways and KISS influences.
"Keep Up" is the perfect opener for Oslo City. The guitar loops on the track inspire images of sound being amped through turbo-charged dragster engines. Mixed into this combustion chamber is the input of Currie's anthemic vocals. If inputs are expected to derive outputs, the results are abundantly clear. "Keep Up" is a wild and pulsating ride.
Creating such an energetic mold early on bodes well for Oslo City. As I said earlier, it's as much the hooks as anything that make this album worthwhile. As the album progresses through the tracks "One Minute Away," "Move Over" and "Start Over Again" I find myself drawn to the lo-fi recording of Currie's vocals. It's almost as if she's singing in the room next door, which allows for her to hide the underlying pop tendencies the songs would surely suggest otherwise. Furthermore, when you mix in the cagey fretwork of Christine Sixteen and bassist Rambling Roy, the tracks culminate with an undeniable "garage" rock edge to them.
Oslo City takes an interesting turn when "Bosnia" is performed, as bells and tambourines replace the guitar amplifier stacks. Currie's seductive vocals mesmerize, the song portraying a poignant lullaby when matched up to the energetic sing-alongs she and her bandmates have hit us with by this point. "Bosnia" is an added dynamic to this album that shows Mensen have begun maturing as a unit in the studio.
Speaking of the dynamics found on Oslo City, the liner notes interestingly list Andersson and Danny Young of Gluecifer as contributing percussion work to the recordings. Not that the band's drummer, Power Plingis, disappoints from what I gather to be her participation on all the tracks; it just has me wondering what creative input may have been shared by such noteworthy guests. And, interestingly, the introductory guitar licks on "Sandy Starlight" and "The Hard Way" inspire recent memory of the sound from any of the tracks found on the recent Hellacopters By the Grace of God release. Things that make you go hmmm….
Whatever the case may be, Mensen is definitely on to something with Oslo City. Whether it's with their solicitation of outside collaborative efforts or merely with the basic evolution of the group as a unit, the band has put out a release where every track is catchy in its own way.
My surprise occurred a month ago during the dog days of summer and nearly a year after Oslo City was released. While always grateful for exposure to such good fortune, I can assure myself that I will anticipate the band's future works with greater zest.