WERS 88.9 fm - Album Review: Monsters Of Folk

September 17^th 2009

The self titled freshman debut of Monsters of Folk is a collaboration of our time, giving the listener a taste of each artist's individual strengths, as well as the power that comes from their conjoined efforts. My Morning Jacket's Jim James, neo-folkie M. Ward, and Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis of Bright Eyes fame have come together as Monsters of Folk, an act that draws on their collective songwriting strengths, as well as providing an ego check to a group of front men that forces them to work outside of their comfort zones.

The albums second track, "Say Please," features the group's three vocalists each taking turns on a verse, and more than any other track, provides the listener with the head-on Monsters Of Folk experience. The quivering vibrato of Oberst, James' falsetto, and the grit and gravel of M. Ward all combine to give the listener a full picture of what a collaboration between our times finest songsmiths sounds like, making "Say Please," the smartest choice for the albums first single.

This project sounds more like Bright Eyes' material than either M. Ward or My Morning Jacket, and for good reason. Vocalist/songwriter Conor Oberst has been a power force within the singer/songwriter community since he was an Omaha-based teenager, and Mogis has long been his instrumental sidekick, helping take the music in Oberst mind and putting it on a record. Their history together admittedly overpowers the individual contributions of both James (credited as Yim Yames), and Ward, but the albums closing track, "His Masters Voice," proves to be the finest song on the album, in large part due to Jim James. In the vein of My Morning Jacket tunes like, "At Dawn," and "Golden," "His Masters Voice," features James on lead vocals, layered over a few guitar chords, gently plucked, atop minimalist piano notes from Ward, as James tackles religious themes, singing "Mohammed and Christ Speak twice as nice/But the one that I like best- He sings inside my chest."  With the swell of the guitar, and the percussive emphasis on tom toms, this one sounds the most like a My Morning Jacket tune. But with Ward and Oberst on backup vocals, this track is without a doubt a Monsters Of Folk product.

Fans of Bright Eyes may not be keen on the fact that Oberst is sharing the light with the likes of M. Ward and Jim James, and My Morning Jacket fanatics are likely to be disappointed by the lack of distorted guitar riffs that they're used to James cranking out, but Monsters Of Folk offers a unique listening experience that requires no background knowledge on either Bright Eyes, M. Ward or My Morning Jacket to be truly appreciated.

-Andrew Bruss