“Five Little Rooms”
from the album Mines
2010
iTunes
“Five Little Rooms” begins with the line “this is a play that takes place in freezer” sung hauntingly by Menomena drummer Danny Seim, excellently beginning the narration of the dark tale that follows. A simple drumbeat drives the song with sprinkles of piano punctuate the story and along with quietly tinkling bells and brooding chords that add impact to the sinister atmosphere. Throughout the track we are presented with various disquieting images involving prostitutes and shootings. As the song progresses more flourishes of various instruments bombard the listener from each side, continuing in the brilliant Menomena fashion of accentuating the multi-instrumental capabilities of the band through a rich and bamboozling stereo production. “Five Little Rooms” brilliantly fills up the entire space inside your mind and involves you within its twisted nature, never letting your attention slip for even a second.
By the time the repetition of “all this could be yours someday” takes over for the second half of the track you feel as though you’ve been led through a maze of a haunted mansion being serenaded by the ghosts that live there, who are trying to seduce you into sin in order to attain all that you desire. They do it so lusciously and lavishly through a mesh of saxophones, wailing guitars and harmonized vocals that you can’t help but succumb to their wishes.