They're There, And Then They're Gone

There are so many different paths an album can take when it comes to how it strikes you. There are some albums that hit within the first 30 seconds. You are convinced before even hearing track 2. Other albums find their spark midway through. Then there are those albums that may take a few listens for you to adjust your ears and really let things grow. Some albums plateau, some lose their flare, and others some how continue to call you back.

Monsters of Folk's self-titled album is one that left me feeling general underwhelmed when it first was released. I really enjoyed the single, "Say Please" the first time I heard it. That in combination with the persons involved had raised my expectations of the album pretty high. However, when it finally was released I found myself listening to it with increasing disinterest. Months later I revisted the album and realized that it had a few really solid gems on it. In particular, I loved how everyone's voices and vocal styles (if you can say Conor Oberst has a style in his voice) blend together in the final moments.

The last few days I have had a melody in my head. Ever have this happen to you? Somehow you have this string of notes running through your head but cannot discern any sort of notable lyrics or figure out where the melody leads thus leaving you unable to identify this sequence. Today I was able to identify that this melody belongs to the middle section of the song titled, "Temazcul" by Monsters of Folk. Maybe it was the satisfaction of identifying the melody finally, or maybe not, but I listened to the whole album again and couldn't help but enjoy it a whole lot. Sure there are still several subpar songs, but its is also definitely better than I first gave it credit for and better than an album with just a few gems. I wouldn't say its more than a 60/40 for excellent-to-mediocre/subpar-ratio. Even so, I find myself putting it on again, so it has some kind of staying power in that 60%-good portion of the album.

(I set up my dad's record player in my bedroom today so I could make some progress on the bomb-shell my room has become, and listen to The Crane Wife [purchased yesterday]."