{"id":1960,"date":"2025-09-23T16:20:57","date_gmt":"2025-09-23T20:20:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/?p=1960"},"modified":"2025-09-25T07:27:45","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T11:27:45","slug":"equus-asinus-breathing-in-the-breeze","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/2025\/09\/23\/equus-asinus-breathing-in-the-breeze\/","title":{"rendered":"Equus Asinus: Breathing in the Breeze"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

There is a certain magic to Men I Trust\u2019s music\u2014an unhurried grace in their ability to create entire worlds out of whispered melodies and feather-light grooves. With Equus Asinus<\/em>, the Montreal trio once again proves that subtlety is their greatest strength. Drifting effortlessly between indie, soft rock, and jazz influences, the album is a dreamscape bathed in muted pastels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the very first notes, Equus Asinus<\/em> establishes itself as an album of patience. Unlike the many artists who chase immediacy in their sound, Men I Trust embraces slowness, allowing each song to unfold like a careful exhale. Lead singer Emmanuelle Proulx\u2019s voice is as breathy and effortless as ever, floating over basslines while guitar melodies meander like sun-drunk rivers, never in a rush, never demanding attention, but captivating nonetheless. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s something hypnotic about the way Men I Trust crafts their music. Their sound has always been warm and unassuming, but on Equus Asinus<\/em>, they perfect the art of understated elegance. It\u2019s an album that doesn\u2019t beg to be played at full volume, but instead invites you to sink into its atmosphere. Right from the opening track, \u201cI Come With Mud\u201d, Proulx\u2019s voice drips with honey right into the listener’s ears. The song is shrouded in a smooth, golden sound that makes you feel as if warm rays of sunlight bathe down on you. It\u2019s the kind of music that doesn\u2019t impose itself; it simply exists, waiting for the listener to get lost in its soft edges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lyrically, Equus Asinus<\/em> is both introspective and ambiguous, often feeling like a collection of fleeting thoughts rather than structured narratives. This is a band that understands the power of suggestion, of saying just enough to evoke a mood without ever over-explaining. The themes drift between wistfulness, longing, and quiet acceptance, delivered with a softness that makes even melancholic moments seem comforting. The ninth track, \u201cGirl (2025)\u201d, <\/em>was originally <\/em>released as a single in 2022. Slow and wistful, the song features a shift from English to French that can almost go unnoticed. No dramatics yet unclouded. Everything fits right in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the album\u2019s greatest strengths is its cohesion. Where some records feel like a series of unrelated snapshots, Equus Asinus<\/em> is a single, fluid motion; a slow dance where each step flows seamlessly into the next. Even as the band subtly plays with tempo and tone, there\u2019s never a jarring shift, never a moment that feels out of place.  The third track, \u201cBethlehem\u201d, <\/em>starts off with this bouncy intro. A vibey guitar riff blends seamlessly with a softer replica of the same melody. Then, in comes the ethereal vocals. The entire song is absolutely hypnotic\u2014 it makes you feel like you\u2019re floating into the stars. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet, despite its softness, Equus Asinus<\/em> never feels weightless. There\u2019s a depth to its stillness, an unspoken confidence in its refusal to rush. In a musical landscape where bombast often overshadows nuance, Men I Trust continues to carve out a space for quiet beauty. Equus Asinus<\/em> isn\u2019t trying to be grand; it\u2019s simply existing in its own luminous world, and that\u2019s exactly what makes it so special.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is an album for the in-between. It\u2019s for golden hours and long drives, for nights spent staring at the ceiling, for the gentle embrace of solitude. Men I Trust has once again created something effortlessly beautiful, an album that doesn\u2019t need to shout to be heard. Equus Asinus<\/em> is a reminder that sometimes, the softest things leave the deepest impressions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Genre: <\/strong>Indie pop, dream pop, soft rock, subtle jazz<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Length: <\/strong>14 tracks – 44 minutes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rating<\/strong>: 8.9\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is a certain magic to Men I Trust\u2019s music\u2014an unhurried grace in their ability to create entire worlds out of whispered melodies and feather-light grooves. With Equus Asinus, the Montreal trio once again proves that subtlety is their greatest strength. Drifting effortlessly between indie, soft rock, and jazz influences, the album is a dreamscape […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":1961,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[25,27,19],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1960"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1960"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1960\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1968,"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1960\/revisions\/1968"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}