Alternative rock group
Mento is a Tenerife alternative-rock band included in the Canarias Crea mobility programme, with a career of more than a decade and a notable stage around the album Oxímorón.
In 2014 Mento took part in the Canarias Crea cultural mobility programme as a Tenerife rock group with more than a decade of activity, invited to Madrid’s Sala Sirocco to present Oxímorón. That work was the first record made outside the islands, formed by the EPs Asfixia and Respira.
Mento matters as an example of the Canarian rock scene seeking external circulation through public mobility programmes. Its inclusion with other Canarian projects in Canarias Crea places the group within the network of bands linking mainland venues with music made in Tenerife.
Its sound is sentimental rock, with influences from Radiohead and The Cure, intimate swells, rises and falls, and chiaroscuro contrasts. Oxímorón’s two-part structure, Asfixia and Respira, reinforces that reading of emotional contrast.
Its legacy is tied to the professionalisation of Tenerife bands from the venue, demo and independent-record circuits that used Canarias Crea to move beyond the archipelago.
By 2014 the band had more than a decade of activity.
The band presents Oxímorón in Madrid, formed by Asfixia and Respira.
Tenerife
Since the twentieth century
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Gran Canaria
First performance in 1969; first album in 1970
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Gran Canaria
Active between 1965 and 1972; Ciclos was released in 1974
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