Manchester UK-based friends Will and Dave form the band Meena. Their single “God’s Free Make Me” comes via Meena’s ‘Can’t See’ EP. The track features a backing synth shimmer and post-punk rhythm section initially, adding a lively guitar tone alongside the expressive vocal performance. Added guitar jangles add further fervor past the one-minute mark. Escalating distortion a minute later accompanies the galloping bass line, concluding with a dreamy allure.
‘Can’t See’ follows up the band’s debut EP last year, whose opening track “Porch” saw praise from outlets like We All Want Someone to Shout For, Little Dose of Indie, Independent Music Reviews, and others. Meena emerged from the break-up of Will’s previous group. After the disbandment, he decided to focus on writing songs Guitarist Dave joined on the synth. The name ‘Meena’ originates from a shop he noticed inside a retail complex whilst walking around the city.
The relative success of Porch, from the band’s first EP, was the motivation to turn his bedroom into a studio and spend 6 months writing over 50 songs. The covid lockdown and forced isolation allowed him time to select the final tracks, finishing them, he says, in a long bout of alcohol-fueled creativity.
Speaking further about the album he says: ‘I’m generally a lazy person and I’ve put more focus on this than almost anything ever. There are a few happy accidents on the EP, I was recording the sounds of snips in a reverb derelict abandoned room when an engineer dropped a load of copper pipe from his ladders. The timing of it fitted perfectly into the intro of the bad trip being an example another example being ‘alcohol’ which was originally recorded at twice the speed, there was a problem on the drums so I slowed the song down to isolate it but found it sounded so good slowed down that I kept it that way and re-did the vocals completely and overdubbed some guitars in terms of influences and style, I’ve always been obsessed with reverb and I’ve been through thousands of pounds worth of pedals before finding my current pedalboard setup influences I suppose are Jesus and Mary Chain, Diiv, My Bloody Valentine, Interpol, Joy Division, Raveonettes, etc. – I personally can hear the influences of all of these there but feel like it sounds unique enough to be Meena my vision for the record was a poppy hooky reverb-drenched layered record with big drums and deep bass with a rich textured (every single bass note is played on the low E), I think the record is quite lyrically abstract but in general is about life, sadness and just trying to get through life. I’m not sure what else to say really, I hope the music speaks for itself.’
For further information on the band please visit the following links
- https://soundcloud.com/ameenaband/sets/cant-see-1/s-yYwXBjchYBx
- https://www.instagram.com/meenaband/
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