Maneka

Devin McKnight makes music to be understood. With Maneka, his wildly adventurous songwriting project, the Brooklyn-based indie rock artist has consistently and thoughtfully explored the fringes of identity. As a Black man, he writes songs that resiliently navigate the anxiety of being a minority in largely white spaces, offering solidarity to outsiders everywhere and firm defiance against a regressive status quo. On Dark Matters, the masterful second Maneka album out now via Skeletal Lightning, McKnight is at his most clear-eyed and searching. Across 10 tracks, McKnight asks uncomfortable questions about himself and America’s dark past all while scraping the edges of what guitar music can be. Kinetic, unpredictable, and totally resonant, this LP is a triumphant window into McKnight’s vision.

Maneka started as an outlet for McKnight to immerse himself in producing his own music after several stints as a sideman touring with other bands. “I had this big idea to be forging ahead with creating a space for black people in rock music,” says McKnight. His first effort 2017’s Is You Is EP was abrasive, scrappy, and endlessly listenable complete with songs about The O.C. and an outro featuring his parents talking about their childhood growing up in segregated America. This juxtaposition of McKnight’s own personality and upbringing against years of generational trauma, gentrification, and injustice served as the backdrop for his explosive 2019 debut LP Devin. - Josh Terry