Electric oceans

After learning about this collection, Menzo set out to make an album created entirely with instruments from the library. The only foreign element he introduces is his own voice, and even that is often manipulated or affected by equipment checked out from the library.

A multi-instrumentalist who studied music education at MSU, Menzo is most comfortable with a guitar in his hands. Taking advantage of the library’s electronic music equipment presented him with a challenge.

“Using these instruments (and no guitar) undoubtedly gave the album a more electronic sound, which I was both nervous and excited about,” said Menzo in the album’s notes. “As a classically trained composer and musician, it has always been a goal of mine to tastefully use electronic instruments in a way that still sounds natural and musical when added to a mix.”

The first track, “Ocean Turned Blue,” kicks off the album with a keyboard and vocal introduction dripping with “Sgt. Pepper’s”- esque psychedelia. The song builds into a climax of swirling synthesizers, autotuned vocals and electronic drums that envelop the listener in a sea of digital sound.

The second track, “Nice and Easy,” continues the oceanic assault.

“I woke up to the sound of waves crashing on my head,” Menzo sings, his voice drifting between a fat synth bass line below and doorbell chimes above.

For a change of pace, Menzo transforms his voice into an other-worldly choir for the next tune, the mellow “Interstellar Love Song.”

Menzo returns to liquid metaphors with “Rain,” showering the listener with cascading, Steve Reich-ian arpeggios while a queasy bass line pulsates underneath like an unsettled sea. The introduction of an electronic beat propels the tune into a dancy climax before the song disintegrates into jumbles of sythesizer notes that fade into the sound of sampled rainfall.

The contrast of natural sound in the middle of this electronic onslaught is a nice palette cleanser before launching into the sample-heavy “Voice Force.”

“Use your voice. Be a force for good,” Menzo sings over a cleverly crafted bed of vocal samples and beatbox percussion.

The composer reaches into his psychedelic toolbox once again on “Where Wildflowers Grow.” A slithering bed of keyboard glissandi shifts like audio quicksand underfoot.

Where wildflowers grow, the piano notes are out of tune,” Menzo sings. “There in that room, you’ll find me.”

The albums final track, “Ballin’ Out,” bristles with glitchy electronic beats that would make Thom Yorke smile. (Wait — does Thom Yorke smile? He seems too distant and disaffected to bother with something as trivial as smiling. But I digress.)

Waves of synthesizer ebb and flow over driving bass and drums, lulling the listener into a voltaic trance.

With this album, Menzo has created a potent mix of electronic pop and indie rock, laced with a dose of psychadelia. But this is no sprawling, mid-‘60s concept album. The eight-song album clocks in at a tight 31 minutes. In addition to showcasing Menzo’s musical talents, the album is also a glowing advertisement for the Ann Arbor Public Library.

“I have been looking for a way to use my musical talents to give back to the community, and I thought this new album would be a great way to do just that,” said Menzo. “Not only will it bring awareness to the Music Tools program itself, and the great resources that the library has to offer, but I aim to inspire the local youth to dream new possibilities for music, art and expression.”

Dave Menzo “Shhh...”

Independent release • davemenzo.com