Weekly Release Spotlight: Ramona Falls
Posted on 9/28/2009
Ramona Falls
Intuit
[Barsuk]
The Portland music scene comprises an especially complex web, and near the middle of that web is one of the city's most innovative and important bands, Menomena. It was from the depths of the Portland musical talent pool that Menomena's Brent Knopf found the support he sought for his debut solo release, Intuit. Enlisting the help of about 35 of his closest musician friends, including Mirah, Kevin O’Connor and Lisa Molinaro of Talkdemonic, and Janet Weiss of Quasi and Sleater-Kinney, Knopf has made an album that not only solidifies his abilities as a solo composer and songwriter, but even further highlights the contributions he makes to Menomena.
Knopf is responsible for programming Menomena's digital loop recorder in addition to playing several instruments and singing (not to mention taking care of MIDI during live shows). He may be technologically savvy, but Intuit still veers toward the organic. Piano, acoustic guitars and strings bring a yielding quality to the record, most notably on "The Darkest Day," "Bellyfulla" and "Going Once, Going Twice." Knopf's voice has the rare ability (just like former Weekly Release Spotlight subject Amber Webber of Lightning Dust) to swing from fragile to forceful and back again, and his arrangements almost magically follow. The dense layering, stop-and-start rhythms and frequent volume changes of Menomena are all still there, especially on "Always Right" and the epic "Salt Sack."
Intuit is a thoughtful, earnest record that immediately reveals a labor of love – and of friendship - for Knopf. Not only is he joined on the album by his friends, but bandmate Danny Seim is part of the Ramona Falls touring band (interestingly, Menomena itself started as a side project for Seim’s solo work under the Lackthereof name). And while we might begrudge the fact that we must wait a while for a new Menomena album, Intuit is more than enough to tide fans over and to help them gain even further appreciation for Brent Knopf.
Stream: Ramona Falls - I Say Fever
Written by Dana Raidt, Radio K volunteer.