Play Or Nay

The M's - Future Women (Polyvinyl)

The M's are quickly becoming the Dr. Strangelove of rock music. Like the many personalities brought to life by Peter Sellers in Stanley Kubrick's 1964 film, The M's grab hold of the voices and set them up against music that is as butt-shakin' as it is menacing.

The Chicago band's sophomore album Future Women takes leaps forward from their 2004 self-titled debut. The M's don't run away from their strengths here, but the hunger to branch further out musically takes center stage. The three-part vocals by guitarists Josh Chicoine and Robert Hicks and bassist Joey King come more into their own, providing even more muscle to the band's wall of sound attack. What each voice brings to the microphone transforms into this singular discombobulated head with drummer Steve Versaw stampeding from behind.

Future Women maintains that drunken looseness from the debut album but spotlights some maturity. Some might say, "I don't want my band to become mature." Well, the lucky bands find a way to ride maturity towards new roads they never thought possible. The bands that try and fight it are really kidding themselves and soon fall off the map. Grow up or die trying, and The M's welcome the growth. Two prime examples of this are "Light I Love" and the album's title track "Future Women."

On "Light I Love," string arrangements by Dave Max Crawford (formerly of Poi Dog Pondering) turn this simple acoustic-driven tune into possibly the best song on the album. It's a gentle, bittersweet tune, featuring violinist Susan Voelz of Poi Dog Pondering that showcases more of the acoustic side of The M's. Rivaling that song is "Future Women," a song just as good as anything The Flaming Lips have written. For some reason, the image of Humpty Dumpty marching along a road in Hell to a strip joint comes to mind when listening to this song. Twisted? Sure. Fun? Definitely. The M's paint a dreamy world filled with these strange yet welcoming sounds that somehow all make sense.

But The M's don't hold back on the nastier rockers. "Never Do This Again" turns back the clock to T. Rex and Cheap Trick; the guitar bombardment comes from every angle. "Underground" can sum up any crazy Saturday night in Chicago onboard some late night El train. It sort of pays homage to The Jam's classic song "Down In The Tube Station At Midnight" with its train-like guitar rhythm.

The fuzzed up potential The M's showed on its debut album has become reality on Future Women. The songwriting team of Chicoine, King, Versaw, and Hicks has to be considered one of the best out there in music right now among young bands finding their feet. Future Women wraps up imagination, mystery, and sheer joy all into one, something any good album should deliver from the first note to the final fade.