MInor Figures - And How Does That Make You Feel?

Minor Figures

And How Does That Make You Feel?
self-released; 2019

3.4 out of 5

By Jamie Funk

Time keeps moving forward and some things change and some things stay the same. In 1996 I was fifteen and Nirvana was my favorite band in the universe. It was a couple of years after Kurt Cobain died but Nirvana was big in a way that bands don’t really get anymore. At any rate I played Nirvana and all the songs I wrote back then sounded like Nirvana. It’s now twenty-two years later and a young high school band called Minor Figures is keeping the spirit alive with their release And How Does That Make You Feel?

The songs are a lot like alternative versions of Nirvana songs. Take for instance “About April” which has a similar strumming pattern to “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and the standard clean and then dirty guitars that Nirvana used to implement.

“Love Is A Trap” is basically an homage to “Heart-Shaped Box.” The guitar melodies are nearly identical on the verse as well as the chorus. “Doxy” and “Alien In Hollywood” continues with basic templates for grunge songs.

“In Front Of Me” is the first song that felt like it was taking a little step outside of the grunge influence. The guitar work is at its best here and the vocals even feel a little more natural on this song. “The Falsifier” is another song that felt a little more out of the grunge vibe. It’s a solid song. They close with “Gaseous Uniqueness” which was a solid grunge/punk. The Nirvana influence wasn’t quite as apparent here.

The band seems to be having fun and that’s what matters. Although it seems like the vocalist is singing with a slight affectation that might make him sound more tortured than he is and a number of songs seem to be directly influenced by specific songs. I like this band and especially like that they are keeping alive the bands that were playing live when I was their age.

My advice is to keep chipping away at forming their own sound so that high school kids in 2042 will be playing songs that are influenced by Minor Figures. I look forward to hearing more. ​

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