MNNQNS - Body Negative

‘Body Negative’ is a beautiful yet bizarre debut. MNNQNS (pronounced mannequins, obviously), formed over an existing love of post-punk and going out drinking in their native Rouen, but it’s in frontman Adrian D’Epinay’s time spent studying in Cardiff that they found their groove: there’s early British post-punk stamped all over the record, not least via experimentally acute guitar lines and drum parts packing constant momentum. Single ‘Desperation Moon’ merges moods of teenage nostalgia and looming adulthood, while ‘Urinals’ bleeds the need to feel listened to. The album really hits its stride in the second half, though, with the slower, spacier ‘Stagnant Pools’ and ‘Wire (Down To The)’ which brims with confidence and intent.