The Men - Leave Home (2011) [Sacred Bones] // Grade: B

The Men have many faces. Not too many—we’re not talking some untenable genre clusterfuck here—but just enough to send you reeling, whiplashed, wanting more. Sacred Bones debut Leave Home comes in like a Fellini film, all buzz and thrum, a gurgle of sexy noise and psychedelic future sounds. Slow burns. Melodies creeping in on rabbit feet before exploding into “Lotus” and its pitch-bendy surf punk, this viciously joyous jam like the sonic equivalent to running, running, running until the periphery blurs and you can’t find your breath.

But don’t get comfortable; Leave Home goes from running to lurching in the blink of an eye. The monstrous, noise-filled rage of “Think” and “L.A.D.O.C.H.” seem positioned to stop you cold. They’re great songs in their own right—all hulking and abrasive, guttural vocals and layers of sludgy guitars—but their sudden, terrifying presence is the thing. You can’t see it coming. The shock is the message.

And then it’s gone. Poof. Evaporated into the upbeat fuzz of “()”, the pseudo-”Mote” vibe of (amazing) single “Bataille” and sudden, comparatively delicate instrumental “Shittin’ with the Shah”. As if that’s not enough, the album rounds itself out with something straight of Sigue Sigue Sputnik—if Neu! were to cover them, and then Meat Puppets were to cover that. Disparate? On paper, sure. But the experience of Leave Home is surprisingly cohesive: an intense, no-holds-barred ride through The Men’s subconscious. You’ll listen again just to figure it out. And you’ll keep listening because, honestly, you never will. Isn’t that the point?

- Rue Sauvage