Serena-Maneesh
S-M 2: Abyss in B Minor - 4AD
FILTER Grade: 84%

Apparently, feeding 4AD’s rarefied, grandiloquent aesthetic in an age of frumpy indie rock now requires crawling down into a cave somewhere out on the freezing perimeters of Oslo—which is where the equally grandiloquently named Serena-Maneesh was to be found recording this dazzling masterpiece of contorting, rapturous enigma. As with most 4AD bands, the titular classical pretensions should not be mistaken for snicker or sneer—Abyss in B Minor is as boundless as Rachmaninoff and as ethereal as Chopin. But, as the title also suggests, S-M oft seems to be howling up from the deepest and darkest hollow. Indeed, caliginous opener “Ayisha Abyss” is rather like an eight-minute hymn to the anguished beauty of emotional chaos. It then calms gently into earnest sweetness with “I Just Want to See Your Face,” before the metallic screech of “Reprobate!” veritably conjures the sound of chainsaws grinding at the gates of Heaven itself—Gloria in horribilis! Against all the opulent, strident atmospherics, S-M nick confidently from early Gothic,’70s acid rock (“Blow Yr Brains in the Morning”—now there’s an idea!) and, somewhat obligatorily, My Bloody Valentine—with Emil Nikolaisen all the while vocalizing an air of elegant torpor. It all fades, at the last, into the most fragile of aural gossamer with “Magdalena (Symphony #8).” Who knew oblivion could be so lovely.