Serena Maneesh
Fixxations
Honeymilk Records

I was a bit sceptical about this four-track EP after reading the info sheet accompanying the disc. "Fixxations" is a five-year intensely demanding and dynamic process. A dream about the simple song, the simple structure created by an extremely focused consciousness about the position of every element in a multi-faceted sound picture. And so on. Enough said.

Serena Maneesh is a septet and includes people who've been involved with - to regular Luna visitors - well-known Norwegian bands like Loch Ness Mouse, Madrugada and St. Thomas. They serve sweet pop music and psychedelia, primitive rock and something close to raga rock. This is the group's debut disc and they played live for the first time at the Öya Festival earlier this moonth. I didn't witness the stage performance, but feel Fixxations doesn't do the band full justice. I don't know, maybe it's the songs that point in too many different directions although all four of them include an element or two from the fab Velvet Underground & Nico album. Maybe the production lacks that little something extra or maybe I, after frequently repeated listening, still feel somewhat biased by that info sheet (pretentious, nous??). The music is quite sublime, especially some of the guitars, harmony vocals, contrasts and backward effects. And I really enjoy that semi-angel-alike female voice on most of the songs. I guess it may be lack of charm that's bothering me.

Copyright © 2002 JP