The Men Open Your Heart
2012, Sacred Bones Records
Martin White
8.7 / 10
The Men return with their successor to last year's Leave Home with Open Your Heart. As with Leave Home, the band deploys sheets of distortion and feedback, but with a few more vocal hooks and catchy riffs lurking beneath the fuzz. This is especially true of the mid-album run of "Please Don't Go Away," "Open Your Heart" and "Candy," the record's three most immediate songs.
"Candy" is also the biggest surprise here, a rollicking acoustic near-ballad that exhibits strong shades of Westerberg and Chilton, and could have easily fit on Let it Be or #1 Record. It's one of the band's first songs that stands out perhaps more for the lyrics and songwriting than for careening guitar riffs. But there are plenty of those here, too. "Cube" follows "Candy" with the band's trademark group vocals and chugging, searing, neurotic guitars. Again The Replacements are a touchstone but this time it is a song like "We're Comin' Out" that may be the forbear for "Cube."
The Men certainly touch on a lot of influences, from Sonic Youth ("Ex-Dreams") to kraut-rock ("Oscillation"), but they still manage to retain their own, clearly identifiable sound. This is certainly thanks somewhat to their dense, noisy sound but also to the exhilarating, off-the-cuff spirit that pervades this record. Open Your Heart exudes that no-nonsense attitude at every turn and it's one of the reasons the LP is so exciting and irresistible.
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