Mauno are an experimental pop band from Halifax in Nova Scotia, fronted by Nick Everett, a musician who we are already admire. The band have recently released an album, Rough Master, which sees them twist elements of pop music into a sound very much their own. Previous fans of Everett’s work will be familiar with the experimental tendencies, but whereas he usually played around on the folk template, here he riffs on something altogether more pop-focused.
‘Reeling’ kicks things off with its laid back and oddball pop, complete with a clattering barrage of percussion in the finale, while ‘manitoba’ accelerates into being, giving you the woozy-gap-in-your-insides feel of a fast car or accelerating aeroplane, before degenerating into weird distorted drums which clear the air and allow things to get a little more poppy on ‘nothing’, a strange blend of manic and dreamy, messy and catchy.
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‘Burn this’ is fronted by Eliza Niemi and has noir-ish, slinky vibes, like an easygoing, guitar-based dream pop version of Sylvan Esso. ‘again’ is all sharp little jabbing guitars and occasional swooshing crashes of percussion, as well as a frenzied build at the halfway point (and again at the end) which falls away even quicker than it arrived, while ‘champs’ begins with gentle acoustics and sounds kind of like Andrew Bird fronting The Dirty Projectors. A good indicator of the album as a whole, ‘benny’ is part dreamy soar, part chopped up pop song, before ‘pulses’ ties things up neatly, the title a fine description of the beautiful and almost neoclassical finale, built on a steady and rhythmic cadence, which to me brought to mind the skewed ambient aesthetic of Lejsovka & Freund.
You can but Rough Master now on cassette tape, CD, or as a pay-what-you-can download via the Mauno bandcamp page.
