A friend in my writing program swears you should put at least 30% of your effort into your opening sentence. Not only is a lead responsible for hooking your audience, it’s responsible for conveying the tone, theme and subject matter of what’s to come. It plays ambassador to your essay: your entire story reduced to its smallest possible form. I believe the same is true for album openers.
And that’s the first sign that Run, Rooney, Run, the second self-released album by Rooney & the Minglers, is something special. The aptly named Overture is a perfect microcosm for what’s gone on during the quartet’s six-month hiatus. Those grungy rock songs steeped in ambience have been reworked into sonic narratives – complete with buzzing feedback and swelling strings. It’s definitely a Minglers track, but Rooney, Reggie, Ralphie and Roscoe are all grown up. And what allots to eleven months in human time feels like a lot longer in Mingler years.
What worked in The Electric Quartet is still working. Connor Munro and Zak Zawaduk split vocal duties once more, tag teaming the former’s moan for the latter’s drone. Vocal melodies still slip in and out of heavily textured guitar leads. Cymbals still structure the album’s core. And let’s not forget about that REVERB. But from the dancey rocker “Café Racer” to the Explosions in the Sky channeling intros on “Rooney’s New Do’” and “The Duel”, the boys have broadened their palate, and with it they’ve grown as songwriters. Run, Rooney, Run is ambitious with its twists and turns but clever composition keeps things intact. This time each noise jam seems less of a sonic indulgence, more a carefully placed point of metamorphosis. As white noise temporarily overtakes the record, what dissipated as a suspended G chord crescendos back as a bone-rattling snare.
Even the boys’ liquor choices are getting an upgrade. “Get Your Faxe Straight!,” might be one of their more clever titles (“Gimme Bomb Shelter” being a close runner up.) Leave it to word play to remind you not to take something this serious sounding too seriously. The band is still just a couple buddies named after their favorite brewery’s variety pack, after all.
If last Spring’s The Electric Quartet was your Summer Mingler — filled with sweet lagers and familiar but refreshing ales — Run, Rooney, Run is very much its winter counterpart. It’s heavier, sometimes bitter, and rich with layers. It packs punch, the way a good rock record should. Don’t believe me? Check out Overture for yourself, or get your (exclusive) taste of Faxe here. Then, go out and get a free electronic copy the Warren Dance Party. Because music this good – especially self-released, locally written, mixed and mastered music — is scarcely free.
Source: mosaiccollective
