MEN - Talk About Body

If that’s not eye-catching artwork, I don’t know what is. This is one of the rare cases where judging something by its outward appearance actually works, because ‘Talk About Body’ is every bit as colourful as… whatever the hell that’s meant to be.

A trio, the Brooklyn-based MEN consists of Le Tigre member JD Samson and the members of what was planned to be Samson’s other new project, Hirsute, namely Michael O’Neill and Ginger Brooks Takahashi. Brooklyn has been known to produce forward-thinking acts in recent times, but this lot are anything but ambitious. The group seem quite content with a record pretty much chock-full of electro-pop bangers, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

While a little more diversity will be required if they make another album, they do their job well; after all, it’s tough to argue with an opener as hard-hitting as ‘Life’s Half Price’. There are plenty of anthems to choose from, some with a political bent (the best example of which being ‘Who Am I To Feel So Free’) and others where the idea is simply to let loose and have fun, as in ‘Rip Off’, a song full of knowingly mischievous lyrical content.

The best is saved until last, however: ‘Be Like This’ is the quintessential MEN song, five minutes of the absolute finest in dancefloor-ready electro. Throughout ‘Talk About Body’ the band never once sound like they’re on autopilot (an achievement given that the worst that could be said about it is that it’s too samey), but the closer is proof of what they can do when they really put their minds to it, a song that bodes extremely well for them, if they have a future. Samson’s known for setting off on other ventures, but let’s hope she sticks with this one.