"Scamu Scau" by Meenk will subtly blow your mind.

Have you ever been out and about, out in nature and come upon a strange little creature that you were not familiar with? Some bug or amphibious thingy that you could not identify except to say that it is kind of like a this or that. At times like this the world becomes a little bit more exciting and wonderful and childlike. This is exactly how I felt when I first listened to "Scamu Scau" by Meenk.

Meenk is a project by May Rio who seems to be from Brooklyn and may also have ties to Austin, Texas. At least, that is what I can gather from poking around online. Where she is from may be not as important as where she is going and going by this demurely quirky, subversively charming and smart debut she is surely going places as they say. The songs on "Scamu Scau" have both a super simple indie pop quality to them but also feel a bit askew and kinda drenched in a sticky gollup of ennui. In some ways they remind me of early Weezer and in other ways there are tiny, tiny dashes of an adolescent PJ Harvey. May's vocal delivery and the sound of her voice can be endearingly sweet, no more so than in "Up" where she does a perfect self harmony that is soooo pretty. Behind the prettiness there can also be a barbed sting twisted around a sardonic almost Fuck you tone in the standout track "19" that will undoubtedly be on my list of top 100 songs this year. In 2 minutes and 38 seconds you feel the uneasy queasy pallor of being young (and different). "Reasons" feels like youthful freedom and wide eyed wonder of life before cynicism and "Happiness Forgets" is wonderfully whimsical in it's brevity.

Meenk is an intriguing mystery to me. The seemingly simple songs have an emotional complexity to them which, to me, is tied to May's evocative vocals. There is a wink and a crooked smile to them, a sense that while she is telling her stories to you she might be (all the while) crossing her fingers behind her back. In short, "Scamu Scau" subtly blows your mind. This all to short set of 4 songs will leave their mark on you.

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Robb Donker