Monster Movie - Last Night Something Happened
(Clairecords)
Way back in February, Monster Movie released their debut album, Last Night Something Happened. It opens with "First Trip to the City," a simple song with keyboard flutes floating above a melody and programmed beats. It's easily the best song on the album, so I was a bit disappointed to hear that this is not the style of the other songs. I'm over my initial disappointment because I've realized that, for the most part, Monster Movie's music is still pleasant. Gentle guitars blend with electronic beats and soaring keyboards in "Waiting." Other songs, like "Ooby" beautifully mix piano, acoustic and processed guitar, and other electronic instruments.
Although the songs are different from one another, Monster Movie has a familiar style--a sort of abstract, electronic based rock. It reminded me a little of Air sometimes ("Home sounds like "Playground Love"). There is also "Star City," which is forlorn piano playing over the sound of distant helicopter blades and scrambled radio.
My biggest complaint about the album is that the vocals seem too formal and overbearing for this sort of music. For example, in "4th and Pine." The song is fine until the chorus, which sounds like some sort of power ballad when the singer belts out, "Shadow, shadow/That's all I seem to be." In "Shortwave," the vocals are too processed and melodramatic for the simple guitar and drumming accompanying it. That is one reason I wish more songs were like "First Trip to the City," which has no vocals at all, so the focus is more on the music, which is delightful. Although the vocals make the songs hit-and-miss, most of the music on Last Night Something Happened are a nice blend of electronic and acoustic, and is worth discovering.
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