Album Review: Monogold – We Animals EP
Rating: 9.4/10
The words ‘one’ and ‘gold’ are very meaningful. For rulers, ‘one’ meant superiority and ‘gold’ meant power. For athletes, they speak of accomplishment. For musicians, ‘one’ can be either rising to the top or stopping early, whereas ‘gold’ always is the standard of success. While Monogold’s name speaks such dominance, their ‘one’ previous EP had critics and fans questioning the allure of the self-producing artists from Brooklyn.
Monogold’s We Animals EP has an air about it that is majestic. This seven-track effort stands heads above anything they have done before and many of the EPs you might hear this year. It is Monogold’s finest.
From the get-go, the three-man group coerces a melodic cornucopia into “Traps/Offerings”. In the 5:46 track, folk-tuned vocals swing high above as progressive guitar plucks control the tempo. For an opening track it only begins to display what is to follow.
“Dead Sea Minerals” picks up from the two previous tracks with a winding “Wizard of Oz”-type jog. Everything speeds up, but not too quickly, as the vocals still hang high and the riffs open up a door not normally accessible by groups you haven’t heard of. “Pines”, much like “Traps/Offerings” backs off the acoustic tempo before this short track lets the organ and demo-beat lull this song to a close.
“Foxgloves” could be the hardest song to like on the album as a quivering set of “oohs” chime in from time to time, but what can’t be ignored are hearty lyrics, a poignant instrumental compilation and Monogold’s building ethereal charm.
We Animals doesn’t shy away from vocal harmonizing. Layered vocals exhume a whispering folk that collides with a deep-woods psychedelia. The seven tracks are worth buying if you haven’t heard any good harmonizing since last year’s Fleet Foxes. Even if you do buy it and don’t like it, you might be surprised to hear these guys on your local station sooner than you would expect.
MP3: Monogold – Dead Sea Minerals (buy)
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