I wanted to like it a lot, and I almost do. I think it’s definitely good, I just don’t think it’s for me. It’s too atmospheric, too easy to ignore and forget about. I found it too easy to zone out while listening. I think it gets more engaging and pulls itself more to the foreground in more recent albums, but even those are still lower energy than I usually am in the mood for.
I think the last album in particular, Equus Caballus, was something that was so close to being something I could just enjoy without having to think too hard about it. It still doesn’t really feel like my thing, but I can’t deny that I think it’s well put together, and I did enjoy it. I can imagine that if I were to listen to it in a specific mood, I could have liked it even more. Like, even just recently when I listened to 350: Cavetown (A-) there were a few of albums that happened to hit me at the right time, when I was in the right mood, and without that I think I would’ve rated them way lower.
I wasn’t quite in the right time or mood for Men I Trust, but I can imagine that such a time and mood exists. So it feels fair to give some credit to Equus Caballus, and to Men I Trust as a whole. It feels fair to recognize whatever that time and mood are, the music was clearly made intentionally with that kind of time and mood in mind as a goal and direction. There’s a success there, even if I’m not a person who’s often enough in a place to feel it.
So, a C. Because, for all that I think they do succeed and are good, I’m not a person who’s often enough in a place to feel it. At the end of the day, my rankings are, more than anything else, about me.
Men I Trust complete, now listening to: My Chemical Romance
tunafruitsandwitch 