Brampton’s Moneen Move Forward Boldly With New Record ‘The World I Want To Leave Behind’

You could argue it’s over for Moneen.

The melodic hardcore sound and scene they helped popularize earlier this decade has given way to newer musical trends, and the band’s been fairly quiet on the recording front since its third full-length The Red Tree was released in the spring of 2006.

But if you stood in front of The Horseshoe Tavern Tuesday night and watched the line stream down Queen Street as fans vied for a spot inside a release party for the group’s new disc The World I Want To Leave Behind, that argument becomes harder to make.

And if you were lucky enough to get in and watch the five-piece destroy a sweaty crowd smushed together for the free gig, it becomes near impossible.

Frontman and chief songwriter Kenny Bridges spent large portions of the show in – or rather on – the crowd, on multiple occasions joining fans who at times literally swung from the rafters.

Mind you, Moneen has always been killer live, even as Bridges called the show, “the best we ever had in 10 years,” and “the greatest night of my life.”

Still, it’s the simplification of the stop-start hyper-melodic songs they helped build a sub-genre with that makes this new album of particular interest.

“We realized, on this record, we took a long time to write it … there is no Moneen, we’re Moneen,” Bridges responded when asked about the band’s willingness to stray from its longtime formula.

“There are some pretty moments that are way more quiet and beautiful than anything we’ve ever done before.”

Bridges also didn’t deny that, after a year and a half in the works, the record’s a reflection of a more mature Moneen. In fact, he actually confirmed as much.

“The lyrical content is 100 per cent about that,” he said. “This record is really all about how we fit in.”

Bridges also took time to establish that the album’s title, however it might be perceived, is in no way a lament.

“It’s not a meaning like, ‘I want to jump off a roof,’ it’s a meaning like, ‘when we leave this place, how do you want to be remembered?'”

For Moneen, it’s for that live prowess and the signature sound Bridges also insists fans won’t be forced to miss going forward.

“We’re very aware that there a great number of people that consider themselves fans of our band and we’re not just going to go change,” he promised.

That said, the new record does feature a softer, more contemplative side of the band many probably never expected.

“Definitely songwriting wise I’ve grabbed a hold of simple songwriting and tried to see how that could work for Moneen,” Bridges admitted.

Either way, it’s all a far cry from the band’s Brampton beginnings and the shows it used to play in St. Catharines alongside the earliest incarnations of cohorts Alexisonfire.

The bands now share the same label – Toronto imprint Dine Alone – but the scene from which they sprung has undoubtedly morphed into something much different.

“I’m very proud of the scene I feel we came out of and I hold those days very close to me,” Bridges said.

“But I feel like we’re on our own mission now and we just have other like-minded people that are on similar missions.”

The World I Want To Leave Behind is out now on Dine Alone Records

aaron.miller@citynews.rogers.com

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