Watch McStine & Minnemann 'Crossing Wires'
(The Syndicate) Progressive rock power duo McStine & Minnemann have released their third album, III today, accompanied by a visualizer for "Crossing Wires."
As the centerpiece of the new album, "Crossing Wires" shows the duo stretching out over six minutes through frenetic electro-funk grooves, mathy guitar riffs, and ethereal soundscapes. Whereas the duo tends to write shorter, more dense songs in general, the second half of "Crossing Wires" is a vehicle for McStine and Minnemann to play freely. "We've kept a tight lid on including long solos in our songs until this one," says McStine. "'Crossing Wires' is one of the few co-writes in our discography so far, and it naturally led us to this very spacey and potent jam section. It's a really nice conversation between the guitar and drums." Marco adds, "It's wonderfully weird and experimental. This one contains the probably most musically challenging midsection in our catalog."
While McStine will spend much of 2025 on the road with Porcupine Tree founder Steven Wilson, and Marco Minnemann will be touring with The Aristocrats, the duo will continue to focus on their work together, as well as both remaining in high demand as session players and sidemen.
Since forming in 2020, McStine & Minnemann have built a reputation for pushing musical boundaries, blending the duo's virtuosic musicianship with compelling melodies and lyrical depth. The pair's perennial influences of Queen, Frank Zappa, and The Police meet a mutual love for XTC, PiL, and Gary Numan on III, as well as more contemplative, overtly melodic singer-songwriter stimuli like Brian Wilson and Tim Buckley. These ostensibly incongruous elements are bound by McStine's emotive vocals and Minnemann's rhythmic sense of adventure, their virtuosic musicality connecting through impassioned performances that infuse the duo's breathtaking technical prowess with resonant humanity.
McStine & Minnemann embroiders their highly evolved musicality with new wave, singer-songwriter, and ambient elements to spawn something all its own. "It's such an open-ended canvas," mulled Randy. "We can become a thrash metal band for five seconds and then move on to spaghetti western or something. On paper, it might sound like it can't work, but when you hear it, it does."
Recorded with both artists handling all instruments, III explores dynamic shifts between high-energy prog rock and melodic introspection, offering an intense, cohesive listening experience. Minnemann adds, "There's an intensity and energy exchange not found on the first two albums. It throws you overboard a few times and holds your attention, you want to keep listening."
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