Manuok

Album Review

It's hard to say if Scott Mercado, the man behind Manuok (pronounced: man-you-oh-kay) is a renaissance artist with a true vision for his project, or an out-of-work computer programmer punting into the wind with his musical hobbies and hoping someone takes him seriously. His eponymous debut synthesizes numerous alternative rock tricks into a low-key, low-energy, but often quite interesting and evocative set; combining varied and scattershot percussion with acoustic guitars and/or soft keyboards, and subdued, at times softly murmured vocals à la Radiohead or Earlimart. The good news about all this is that the disc quickly establishes a mellow, steady flow and then sees it through to the end. As self-indulgent enterprises go, Manuok seems to be pretty unassuming, with the songs' typically short lengths serving as another sign that Mercado isn't nearly as taken with himself and his work as most self-contained musical organisms. On the other hand, the same briefness makes for tracks that can often resemble semi-formed sketches rather then truly finalized songs. Whatever their true nature, possibly the most interesting quality of Manuok's music is in its effortless swing from instrumental sparseness ("Randb," "," "All Said and Done") to stacked guitar chords and lush orchestrations ("Nometoucherpas," "Maria Oden"). A curious release both deserving and demanding of further scrutiny, Manuok is perfect fodder for lovers of unconventional pop music.