John Maus: Screen Memories

A year after the release and tour of John Maus’ breakthrough 2011 album We Must Become The Pitiless Censors Of Ourselves, John Maus released A Collection Of Rarities And Previously Unreleased Material. It collected recordings made over an eleven year period (1999-2010). With this release John provided his fans with unreleased songs, that didn’t fall into the trappings that most odds and ends albums tend to do. It was a venting, a dumping of the vault, wiping of the page. Where We Must become The Pitiless... signaled to a fuller sounding, more emotionally engaging listening experience, culminating in some of the best compositions in his catalogue, A Collection Of Previously Unreleased Material gave the fans one last look at a time when John Maus was still honing his ear and finding his way through synth composition, experimentation and lo-fi recordings. Then there was silence... six years will go by leaving fans wondering what had become of John Maus and then in 2017, he emerged from his isolation in Minnesota and drops Screen Memories. After a breakthrough album as solid as We Must Become... as well as a six year hiatus, it’s safe to say that expectations were running high and Screen Memories is everything that you could want in a new John Maus album. Like the previous album, Screen Memories builds on the bolder production, bigger hooks while not losing any of the weird. First single The Combine instantly builds a sense of impending doom with dystopian synths, church bells, strings, Gregorian chants and of course John Maus’ warning:

"I see the Combine coming... it's going to dust us all"

The record’s overall themes of anxiety, isolation and fear definitely provide an appropriate soundtrack to our current times, but one you can dance to. They heavy themes don’t way down the fact that beneath these songs lie pop songs at their core. Where tracks like Touchdown, Pets, Over Phantom, The People Are Missing explore darker, more sinister sounds, the album finds balance with lighter more contemplative moments like Sensitive Recollections, Walls Of Silence and Decide,Decide. In interviews, John Maus has always come across as incredibly verbose, speaking in extended streams of never ending thought, on record however his lyrics have always been more akin to mantras, that with repeated listens firmly work their way into your brain, at work, on the bus or in you sleep, the songs on Screen Memories are no exception... You too will be belting out Your Pets Are Going to Die.