The name of Minuit’s most recent and much-anticipated album is Find Me Before I Die a Lonely Death dot com. Initially, I thought that this was the second worst title I’d ever heard. (Without question, first prize goes to Fiona Apple for When The Pawn… no, I’m not going to type it all out.) However, what had struck me as being an awkward and hollow moniker took on a new significance once I listened to the album. The title, it transpires, encapsulates the ideas of isolation and connection, strength and vulnerability, and excess and moderation that persist over the course of the 14 tracks: this album finds Minuit reflecting upon some of the complexities of life in the 21st century.
Minuit’s particular brand of indie electronica combines the frivolous and pop-y with something more dark and atmospheric. This idea of contrasts is present on Find Me…, the tracks of which fall between light and dark, fast and slow. ‘Wayho’ and ‘Run Run’ are upbeat to the point of being flippant, while the atmospheric ‘Queen of The Flies’ is sinister, acidic and rebellious. Minuit’s principal formula, however, is a wry, pithy statement (“I’m not so brave, I’m just surrounded by cowards”), repeated ad nauseam to a throbbing beat. In the brooding ‘Aotearoa’, Ruth Carr sings “We are New Zealand” so many times that one wonders if she’s angling for a spot on an NZ Post or TV1 commercial (that said, it would be perfect for the tough shit an Evermore track would make light of). Carr’s dry but arresting monotone suits the simplicity of each hook, while textural interest is found within the instrumentation. This combination of drums, synths, handclaps, tinkling piano and distorted bass line becomes so ubiquitous over the course of the album that ‘Vampires’, a folksy acoustic guitar ballad quite unlike the rest of Minuit’s repertoire, comes as a relief.
A sense of isolation, and a desire for genuine human connection, is omnipresent on Find Me…, and contrasts ironically with the music’s heavy reliance on electronic instrumentation. On ‘Maserati’, Carr cries “come on, let’s party” over a throbbing bass line and deluge of cymbals—and then, after less than two minutes, the track ends “not with a bang, but a whimper”, to quote T. S. Eliot. Bar a few undeniably weak tracks, Find Me… is Minuit’s strongest release yet. It speaks of a world where all contact passes through wires—of a world where we’re more connected than ever, but lonelier than before.
Minuit
Find Me Before I Die a Lonely Death dot com
(Tardus Music)