Manchester, UK-based band Meena consume on their debut full-length Different Now, which bridges shoegaze, electronic, and trip-hop charm within its striking production. Meena’s Can’t See EP caught our ears in 2021 with its memorable post-punk, shoegaze, and garage-rock synergy. Their other two EPs, one released in 2020 and the other in 2023, impressed as well with a consistently melodic and dynamic rock appeal. Now they achieve their most expansive success yet with Different Now, a full-length debut that fully enthralls. Mastered at Abbey Road by Frank Arkwright and mixed by Ben H Allen (Animal Collective, Deerhunter, Washed Out, Gnarls Barkley), Different Now succeeds in showcasing the band’s knack for resonating soundscapes and riveting songwriting.
“Doreen” opens the album with enjoyably chaotic electronic immersion, twirling buzzy synths with fuzzed-out guitar tones that expand into a soaring elongation. The one-minute turn sees a dramatic tonal shift, with serene backing vocal impacts, and into an abrupt conclusion — making for an atmospherically immersive opener. The subsequent “Wonder” unveils a more shoegaze-y charm, particularly in the textured guitars and gauzily lush vocal tones. The rhythmic backdrop conveys a trip-hop steadiness, taking a momentary reprieve upon a blissful, ghostly bridge that swells back into a comforting wall of shoegaze-friendly distortion. The album’s opening one-two punch definitively showcases a dynamically melodic entrancement, which continues throughout the album’s 14 tracks.
Meena’s ability to seamlessly shift between various tonal realms is also on display with “Somebody,” a masterful production that swells from spacious beginnings — with solemn vocals and pit-pattering percussion aptly melding with a lyrical reference to “the darkness” — into a bursting array of shimmering guitars and buzzy warmness. The dark-to-light expanse is thoroughly compelling here. The album’s title track comes next, emitting a radiant guitar-led push that moves seamlessly into caressing vocal layers; it only extends just over a minute, though makes a strongly emotive impact.
The album finishes strong from there, delighting in both enjoyable variety and comforting aesthetic familiarity. The excellent “Stumble” succeeds with a consistent disposition in the dream-pop realm, reminiscent of Beach House in the mixture of illuminated keys and crunching guitar haziness. Elsewhere, the throbbing percussion in “Even Say” projects a quicker pace and infectiousness, with doses of electronic-laden experimentation in the final minute, while “Peter” concludes the release with heady alternations between shoegaze-y pop exhilaration and organ-forward lulls. Different Now is a fantastic showing in melody and atmosphere from Meena.
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This and other tracks featured this month can be streamed on the updating Obscure Sound’s ‘Emerging Singles’ Spotify playlist.
