07.
Monsters Of Folk
Monsters Of Folk
A superb supergroup album, which really makes use of the diverse talents of its (all rather talented) members: Jim James (My Morning Jacket), Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes and loads of other stuff) Mike Mogis (Bright Eyes again) and M. Ward (of, well, M. Ward). This is about as good as ‘nu-folk’ gets. There are a variety of treasures here: the floaty ambiance of (oddly positioned) opener ‘Dear God (Sincerely M.O.F)’, the hip-shaking ‘Whole Lot Of Losin’’, the Fleet Foxes harmonies of ‘Slow Down Joe’ and my personal favourite, the hillbilly jam of ‘A Man Named Truth’. Every song is pure class, with technical excellence and peerless songwriting throughout. I like the different vocal styles, which I think complement each other well. It feels very much like this is a departure from the day job for these guys, and, as such, there’s a sense of fun and energy about everything. They don’t seem too bothered if it’s seen as a ‘credible’ record. It’s all about it being an enjoyable one. The result is that actually this beats the last Bright Eyes record and the last My Morning Jacket record. It probably doesn’t have quite the objective ‘quality’ of the usual outputs from these people, but it is, for me, more fun to listen to. The complete opposite in tone from Noah And The Whale’s The First Days Of Spring, this is happy folk music for happy people. What a joy.
Monsters Of Folk
Monsters Of Folk
A superb supergroup album, which really makes use of the diverse talents of its (all rather talented) members: Jim James (My Morning Jacket), Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes and loads of other stuff) Mike Mogis (Bright Eyes again) and M. Ward (of, well, M. Ward). This is about as good as ‘nu-folk’ gets. There are a variety of treasures here: the floaty ambiance of (oddly positioned) opener ‘Dear God (Sincerely M.O.F)’, the hip-shaking ‘Whole Lot Of Losin’’, the Fleet Foxes harmonies of ‘Slow Down Joe’ and my personal favourite, the hillbilly jam of ‘A Man Named Truth’. Every song is pure class, with technical excellence and peerless songwriting throughout. I like the different vocal styles, which I think complement each other well. It feels very much like this is a departure from the day job for these guys, and, as such, there’s a sense of fun and energy about everything. They don’t seem too bothered if it’s seen as a ‘credible’ record. It’s all about it being an enjoyable one. The result is that actually this beats the last Bright Eyes record and the last My Morning Jacket record. It probably doesn’t have quite the objective ‘quality’ of the usual outputs from these people, but it is, for me, more fun to listen to. The complete opposite in tone from Noah And The Whale’s The First Days Of Spring, this is happy folk music for happy people. What a joy.