If all Rock’n’Roll stories worth their salt need a little enigma to spice them up, THE MAJNOONS’ seems to be benefitting from a hefty pinch. Little is known about them other than they inhabit the Leicester hinterland and release mysterious missives on limited edition heavyweight vinyl, packaged by hand and individually hand-stamped. Oh, and that their last release (‘Mono Mono’/ ‘Boudoir’) from 18 months back was sodding tantalising.
Then again, in these media-saturated days, it’s refreshing to embrace some mystique and distance. As with its’ predecessor, ‘All Day Long’ arrives with little fanfare, reeks of class and sounds gloriously out of step with anything being touted as the ‘next big thing’ (whatever the fuck that is). That’ll do for me.
Both sides of the previous single had a clammy, X-Rated quality about them and that vibe carries over here. Long on sparseness and built around a pulsing heartbeat bassline, ‘All Day Long’ alternates between semi-rapped verses full of bile (“you were my friend...or so you said”) and choruses with an almost rave-like euphoria (“all day long...I think about you”). It’s a song where obsession is writ large and the protagonists may not get out alive. As with ‘Mono Mono’, reference points to grasp include Happy Mondays circa ‘Bummed’ and under-rated heroes like World of Twist.
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Good though it is, it’s outstripped by nominal flipside ‘All Love Hate’, where obsession slips the leash of self-control altogether. Apparently a murderous love triangle where love and hate do battle to the end, it pivots around growling basslines, discreet samples and measured drums and you can almost taste the sweat dripping off the creepy, narrated vocals. Its’ finest moment comes after the blissed-out, false-sense-of-security instrumental bit, where the vocal smashes back in and shrieks “he pulled the trigger!” Whoa.
‘All Day Long’ and ‘All Love Hate’ come with prior warning of further missives prior to Christmas and then an album in an undisclosed format. Until then, be satisfied kids. The majestic Majnoons are on the case.
dcl Records online
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