Dec 17, 2009

Listen to this track

Oslo, Norway's shoegaze/noise-pop atomizers Serena-Maneesh will be back to wreak havoc on your cochleas in 2010. Here's the first destructive preview of their sophomore release, S-M 2: Abyss In B Minor, due out March 23rd via 4AD. The still epic six-minute edit of "Ayisha Abyss" will blow your mind in that Can-meets-black metal type way.

It definitely makes sense that SM's long-awaited follow-up to 2005's Serena-Maneesh was recorded in a cave on the outskirts of Oslo. This perfectionist rock rips. "Studio environments often get on my nerves," Emile Nikolaisen explains, "and I love the underworld, you can silently head down there and do as you please, leave the world behind. So we found this huge cave with stone walls, it looked like a refugee hideout from World War II, with a huge, undiscovered treasure of sound."

Make sure to stick around after the dust settles on "Ayisha Abyss." The band's noisy dark cloud opens up into a beautiful and ghostly melody. Also, check out this live performance of the My Bloody Valentine-like "Reprobate!" on Norwegian TV. Both songs will be featured on S-M 2. (Via MBV.)

S-M 2: Abyss In B Minor:

01 Ayisha Abyss
02 I Just Want To See Your Face
03 Reprobate!
04 Melody For Jaana
05 Blow Yr Brains In the Mourning Rain
06 Honeyjinx
07 D.I.W.S.W.T.T.D.
08 Magdalena (Symphony #8)