''Muna'' is the third studio album by American

indie pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and su ...

band

Muna Muna may refer to: Places * Muna (Mikulovice), a World War II POW camp and ammunition factory in the Czech Republic * Muna, Estonia, village in Rõuge Parish, Võru County, Estonia * Muna, Iran, village in East Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Mu ...

, released on June 24, 2022. It is their first album as an independent artist, after they signed with

Phoebe Bridgers Phoebe Lucille Bridgers (born August 17, 1994) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. She has released two solo albums, ''Stranger in the Alps'' (2017) and '' Punisher'' (2020), both of which received critical acclai ...

Saddest Factory Records Saddest Factory Records is an American record label that was founded on October 5, 2020, by Phoebe Bridgers. The label operates as an imprint of Dead Oceans and artists that have been signed to the label include Sloppy Jane, MUNA, Claud, and Cha ...

imprint in 2021. It was promoted by the singles "Silk Chiffon", "Anything but Me", "Kind of Girl", and "Home by Now". The album was met with critical acclaim upon release.

Background

In 2020, Muna was dropped by

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...

, with which they had released their first two albums, and in May 2021 signed with Saddest Factory Records, an imprint of

Dead Oceans Dead Oceans is an American independent record label formed in 2007 and based in Bloomington, Indiana, with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Austin, London, Paris, Amsterdam, and Berlin. Dead Oceans is part of Secretly Group, which also ...

owned by American singer-songwriter Phoebe Bridgers. Throughout 2021 and 2022, Muna toured with Bridgers on her Reunion Tour and with

Kacey Musgraves Kacey Lee Musgraves (born August 21, 1988) is an American country singer. She has won six Grammy Awards, seven Country Music Association Awards, and three Academy of Country Music Awards. Musgraves self-released three solo albums and one as Texa ...

on her '' Star-Crossed: Unveiled'' tour. ''Muna'' will be primarily a synth-pop album, but according to lead singer Katie Gavin, "the sound of this record explodes in a ton of different directions". Guitarist Josette Maskin said of the album, "What ultimately keeps us together is knowing that someone's going to hear each one of these songs and use it to make a change they need in their life. That people are going to feel a kind of catharsis, even if it's a catharsis that I might never have known myself, because I'm fucked up."

Release and promotion

"Silk Chiffon", featuring vocals from Phoebe Bridgers, was released as the album's lead single on September 7, 2021. The song is an ode to queer love, and accompanied by a music video paying homage to the 1999 film '' But I'm a Cheerleader''. The song was sent to adult alternative radio on September 27, 2021 and

hot adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quiet ...

radio on March 21, 2022. Muna performed the song on ''

The Late Late Show with James Corden ''The Late Late Show with James Corden'' (also known as ''Late Late'') is an American late-night talk show on CBS. It is the fourth and current iteration of '' The Late Late Show''. Airing in the U.S. from Monday to Friday nights at 12:37:28a ...

'' on November 8, 2021. On March 15, 2022, Muna announced the album and released the single "Anything but Me", a song about "leaving a partnership simply because it doesn’t feel right." The song was sent to adult alternative radio on March 28, 2022. Muna performed the song on ''

The Ellen DeGeneres Show ''The Ellen DeGeneres Show'' (often shortened to ''Ellen'' or ''The Ellen Show'') is an American daytime television variety comedy talk show that was created and hosted by its namesake Ellen DeGeneres. Debuting on September 8, 2003, it was pro ...

'' on April 18, 2022. "Kind of Girl" was released as the third single from the album on April 28, 2022. The song "explores the power of language and the words we use to describe who we are and who we want to be." The music video features the trio dressed in as cowboys to express the fluidity of gender The fourth single, "Home by Now" was released on May 25, 2022. The band will embark on a North American tour in support of the album, followed by nine dates in the UK.

Composition

''Muna'' is primarily a synth-pop album influenced by new wave, disco, and

hyperpop Hyperpop is a loosely-defined music movement and microgenre that predominantly originated in the United Kingdom during the early-to-mid 2010s. It is characterized by a maximalist or exaggerated take on popular music, and artists within the genr ...

. "Silk Chiffon" and "Kind of Girl" are both

country pop Country pop (also known as pop country or urban cowboy) is a fusion genre of country music and pop music that was developed by members of the country genre out of a desire to reach a larger, mainstream audience. Country pop music blends genres ...

songs, with the former incorporating

and

bubblegum music Bubblegum (also called bubblegum pop) is pop music in a catchy and upbeat style that is considered disposable, contrived, or marketed for children and adolescents. The term also refers to a rock and pop subgenre, originating in the United States ...

, and the later interpolating

Americana Americana may refer to: *Americana (music), a genre or style of American music *Americana (culture), artifacts of the culture of the United States Film, radio and television * ''Americana'' (1992 TV series), a documentary series presented by J ...

. "Anything but Me", "What I Want", and "Home by Now" are all electropop songs, with the latter fusing elements of

dance music Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement. In terms of performance, the major categories are live dance music and recorded da ...

and

emo Emo is a rock music genre characterized by emotional, often confessional lyrics. It emerged as a style of and hardcore punk from the Washington D.C. hardcore punk scene, where it was known as emotional hardcore or emocore and pioneered b ...

. "Runner's High" is a disco song about

self-care Self-care has been defined as the process of establishing behaviors to ensure holistic well-being of oneself, to promote health, and to actively management of illness when it occurs. Individuals engage in some form of self-care daily with food ...

and grieving a break-up, with garage house-esque percussion and " hi-hats maintaining a staccato rhythm like a pattering heartbeat." "Solid" has a

glam rock Glam rock is a style of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s and was performed by musicians who wore outrageous costumes, makeup, and hairstyles, particularly platform shoes and glitter. Glam artists drew on diver ...

edge and "sparkles like the glitterball at an '80s prom". Album closer "Shooting Star" uses the titular phenomenon as a metaphor for destructive relationships, with "spacey synthesisers and underlying pulsating percussion that builds to coming-of-age-movie prog-rock guitar". Every song on the album begins with a quiet introduction that crescendos into the track, "gently easing the listener in rather than hitting them over the head".

Critical reception

''MUNA'' was met with critical acclaim upon release. At

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album holds an average score of 82 based on thirteen reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". ''

The Line of Best Fit ''The Line of Best Fit'' is an independent online magazine based in London, concentrating on new music. It publishes independent music reviews, features, interview, and media. Founded by Richard Thane in February 2007 and currently edited by P ...

'' critic David Cobbald gave the album a perfect score, saying "''MUNA'' is all killer no filler. From its overall sound down to its finer details, Gavin, Maskin and McPherson have hit the mark completely. It's amazing to see a band that are so unapologetically queer excel at their craft and create an album that is quite possibly, if not certainly, their masterpiece." Susan Darlington, writing for '' Loud & Quiet'' praised the album's overtones of "musical brightness and self-acceptance". David Roskin of '' Gigwise'' praised the release, saying "With a collection of bangers, slow tunes and refreshing melodies, MUNA are magic. They've created a space for all to lose themselves into for a little while, whether to dance or cry, they're here to carve through the monotony and troubles of daily life and transport us to a different, brighter, louder, prouder, and safer place." Ben Tipple of ''

DIY "Do it yourself" ("DIY") is the method of building, modifying, or repairing things by oneself without the direct aid of professionals or certified experts. Academic research has described DIY as behaviors where "individuals use raw and sem ...

'' writes "It's by far the happiest MUNA have sounded; a celebratory expression of queer love that loses none of the trio’s magic." '' Exclaim!'' contributor Dede Akomo wrote that the trio "emits a monstrous amount of something our world lacks: queer joy. Generation Z is no longer satisfied with simply seeing queer characters suffer in their media, and MUNA represent the counteraction to this anguish." In a five star review, Stephen Ackroyd of '' Dork'' called the album "A record that doesn't just thrill, but empowers too, it's enough to put MUNA firmly amongst the highest echelon of modern pop bands. Quite possibly the album of the year so far."

Track listing

All tracks written by Katie Gavin, except where noted.

Personnel

Muna

*Katie Gavin – lead vocals, background vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar,

nylon-string guitar The classical guitar (also known as the nylon-string guitar or Spanish guitar) is a member of the guitar family used in classical music and other styles. An acoustic wooden string instrument with strings made of gut or nylon, it is a precursor ...

, tambourine, producer, engineer, vocal engineer *Josette Maskin – lead guitar, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, slide guitar,

Ebow The EBow, short for electronic bow or energy bow, is an electronic device used for playing string instruments, most often the electric guitar. It is manufactured by Heet Sound Products, of Los Angeles, California. It was invented by Greg Heet i ...

, synthesizer, organ, background vocals, bass programming, drum programming, producer, engineer *Naomi McPherson – rhythm guitar, acoustic guitar,

12-string guitar A twelve-string guitar (or 12-string guitar) is a steel-string guitar with 12 strings in six courses, which produces a thicker, more ringing tone than a standard six-string guitar. Typically, the strings of the lower four courses are tuned in o ...

, mandolin, background vocals, synthesizer, synth-bass, drum programming, bass programming, vocal programming, string arrangements, producer, engineer

Other musicians

*Geo Botelho – bass, background vocals *

– featured vocals *Luke Burgoyne – programming * Dan Grech-Marguerat – programming *Scott Heiner – drums *Charles Haydon Hicks – programming *Ryan Hommel – string arrangement *

Joy Oladokun Joy Oladokun (born April 6, 1992) is an American singer-songwriter. Oladokun's music spans the genres of folk, R&B, rock, and pop and is influenced by her identity as a queer woman of color. She has released three studio albums: ''Carry'' (20 ...

– saxophone, trumpet, horn arrangement *Cynthia Tolson – cello, violin, viola, string arrangement

Technical

*Geo Botelho – additional engineer, vocal engineer *Luke Burgoyne – assistant mixing engineer *Dan Grech-Marguerat – mixing engineer *Charles Haydon Hicks – assistant mixing engineer *Patricia Sullivan – mastering engineer

Charts

References

{{Authority control 2022 albums Muna (band) albums Dead Oceans albums LGBT-related albums