Monk
Quiver
Flat Earth Records
Monk is self-classified as “atmospheric groove pop,” but they’re really a bit more like light rock for dreamers. Songs fiddle and float, teetering on the edge of straightforwardness, but always managing somewhere around a pop song structure with a convoluted, guitar-based texture. An expansive range of guitar effects weaves its way through the eleven songs on Quiver , crafting melodically mellow ear enigmas that are more interesting than they are simplistically catchy.
Staying close to its name, Monk’s lyrics dabble in spiritual inquiries, like its leadoff track, “Womb of God.” Still, though, the album isn’t overwhelmingly religious, but instead touches upon it occasionally and then stems off to weave spirituality poetics into what are presumably love songs. Strangely out of place, the album features Ben Folds in the loop drums department on “That’s My Love,” a song that visualizes love with the ocular obscurity of a Spenserian sonnet. Much of Monk’s lyrics are crafted in such a fashion, aptly fitting the dream rock it fronts.
Flat Earth Records, 6900 South Gray Road, Indianapolis, IN 46237
