(Misra)
There’s more than a hint of Wilco coursing through the sonic
DNA of Austin’s Monahans, from the warmly inviting, Tweedy-esque vocals to a
keen ability to juggle pop inclinations with more experimental ones – proof of
the latter, especially, discerned in three probing instrumentals (one of them a
21-minute journey across kosmiche terrain)
that punctuate the tracklist of this, their second full-length. Too, the fact
that until 2007 the group had spent the decade operating as alt-country
twangers Milton Mapes makes their transformation into something more urgently
anthemic, at times overtly psychedelic, rather Wilco-esque.
Beyond all that, though, the aforementioned space-rock epic
(“Terrene”), along with such numbers as the pulsing, brooding “I Run to You,”
the polyglot worldbeat/freejazz of “Fit For Fire” and the buoyant title track,
additionally puts the group in rubbing-shoulders distance of My Morning Jacket
and Arcade Fire. Not bad company to be keeping, and a remarkable musical
evolution to boot.
Standout Tracks: “Fit For Fire,” “Dim the Aurora”
FRED MILLS