Keep the monsters at bay

The joining of folk powerhouses M.Ward, Yim Yames of My Morning Jacket, Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis of Bright Eyes to make an album sees sees results similar to the 2004 U.S. Olympic men’s basketball team – they fail. And for the same reasons.

The entire album comes off a tad pretentious. Besides the arrogant band name, most of the tracks feel unfinished, as if the band felth that whatever it wrote down would be enough. I don’t know if it is band chemistry that is missing or if they just walked into the studio thinking, “Whatever we record is going to be the shit.” And quite frankly, “shitty” is one adjective I would use to describe the album.

There are a few tracks that do stand out; “Temazcal” is a strong ballad that utilizes the strengths of band members more appropriately. The song would sound even better if taken out of the context of the album.

I have respect for a lot of the musicians, particularly M.Ward, but if you are interested in hearing these guys, don’t even torrent “Monsters of Folk,” just check out their individual albums.