There’s a huge difference between dissonant noise and dissonant melody. That’s why a band like my bloody valentine are so rare; they got the balance just right on loveless, and since then they’ve spawned a million and one imitators. Norwegian drone-poppers Serena-Maneesh are the latest cab off the rank.

The big difference between Serena-Maneesh is that songs like “Un-Deux” and the glorious “Selina’s Melodie Fountain” remember that melody is the key. Behind the swathes of guitar noize, there’s a heart of pure pop beating loud and true. The rhythmic templates of “Candelighted” and “Sapphire Eyes” offer something different, but ultimately they’re simply not as satisfying.

Some songs, like “Beehiver II”, float more into the noise spectrum than they should, using aggressive intent as their basis. Serena-Maneesh are at their best when they let the songs breathe a bit, rather than try to feed everything back in and create a mess of sound. Similarly, “Sapphire Eyes” closes out with an unnecessary long, and ultimately dull, outro.

That it’s followed by the glistening “Don’t Come Down Here” doesn’t help it. When, halfway through, that particular song detonates its floral beginning for a swathe of noise, it comes across fresh and wondrous, before drifting back to the beautifully open sounds that preceded the break down. After this, Serena-Maneesh finishes as a bit of a letdown, never quite recapturing the high. The band promises much for the future here, but don’t quite deliver on this first effort.