As I have had the pleasure to listen to the test pressing of the LP quite a few times now, I wanted to chime in here and give this a warm recommendation. Mnem keeps on producing some of the most stunning music, and every release is a gift to be grateful for.
I have spent the day listening to the last LP,
Hegonon, to try and come up with something smart to say... which I won't, I guess... half-way through
Hegonon I had to pull out the
Engrama 10" and re-visit that one for the first time in many years. I remember getting the 10" back in 2000, and how it flat out nailed me to the couch I was sitting on, waves of hypnotizing cyclic sounds begging for deep listening as they moved on, broke up, damaged and unassuming, weaving a breathtaking cinematic experience -- world class cinema for the ears. I didn't know anything about these Finns back then other than that they had instantly won me over. Floored by both the music, and the fact that this gem of a 10" was only made in 100 copies. I wanted to rush out and buy every copy I could find.
I didn't. Instead we re-issued
Engrama as an expanded LP version on Segerhuva some years later. As it's still available, and affordable, I can't help but wonder when people will wake up and figure out that they are missing out on some classy stuff here. To this day, Mnem must be one of the most overlooked acts I can think of.
Hopping from those first recordings from 20 years ago, to the more recent albums, it is amazing how much they are tied together. Clearly, Mnem's sound world is pretty much the same as it ever was, and hopefully will be for a long time. It gives me the feeling of every track being a scene from a non-linear story -- for me, I get lost in fantasies of a bleak sci-fi portrayal of hard laboring otherworldly creatures, where the viewer can't make out what is happening, but there is a steadfast and composed calmness to the work, a work that must be done however long it takes, a work that all the creatures now living will not see the planned result of, if by honor or by being forced to is impossible to say for sure -- each scene interchangeable, a story that weaves in and out of itself, eluding and taunting you. It is music that gives you a sense of nearly grasping it, that there is some sort of inherent logic that is hiding -- your intuition assuring that you will be rewarded the deeper you go.
Maybe think of The Residents'
Eskimo album, and then consider an alternative universe where that music held onto the coldness and austerity, but frayed and disintegrating, becoming the Moles' music in a much darker and grittier Mole trilogy.
Or if you aren't familiar with Mnem, maybe just do yourself a favor and buy the album and if you don't like it you can sell it to me. I wouldn't mind buying every copy I can find anyway.