Monsters of Folk began in 2004 as a collaborative effort between Jim James (My Morning Jacket), Conor Oberst & Mike Mogis (Bright Eyes), and M. Ward. Their self titled debut in late September 2009 was highly regarded by critics, which may or may not come as a surprise. Rolling Stone, Q, and Mojo magazines all gave the album four out of five stars and Under the Radar gave it a 7 out of 10 (which may not seem high, but they didn’t give anything higher than an eight this season; because it’s cool to like stuff – just not too much).
I certainly wasn’t disappointed with what I heard, but sometimes people with nothing nice to say, say something anyway. One publication that didn’t join in the praise party was People, who weren’t inclined to give higher than 2 ½ out of 4 stars. Chuck Arnold, in an October issue of People magazine writes, “There’s so much talent…that you kind of expect more from them.” Which is not unfounded, just perhaps a bit misguided. I understand that as the audience we set the bar a little higher for supergroups; our expectations, ready to be exceeded if not matched, are already in place from their main projects, of which we are presumably so fond, so when we’re not blown away the only thing left to feel is disappointment. But what Else have they been up to? It’s not like they’ve been hording these songs for 5 years and have just now decided to bestow their genius upon us…
Since 2004, M. Ward has released three albums, one EP, and one album with She & Him (another collaboration with actress Zooey Deschanel with a follow up planned for release sometime next year), as well as contributing on a handful of other albums by other artists. Bright Eyes has put out three albums and two EPs and Jim James, and in addition to two albums and extensive touring with My Morning Jacket which brought him twice to the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival (which I saw), once to Mountain Jam (which I also saw), and to Madison Square Garden on New Year’s Eve 2009 (yep, saw that one too), has also released under the name Yim Yames a Geroge Harrison Tribute EP which has led some critics to compare this supergroup with the likes of The Traveling Wilburys (though a more fitting analog might be The Highwaymen, as they had four members and the Wilburys five, but it’s the same point to be made). On top of all that, and touring together, they’ve all been on each other’s albums. Thereby, as individual artists, they have each contributed to the other’s body of work, and in a sense Monsters of Folk is just the concentration of a large collaborative effort.
So what the fuck, Chuck? What do you want from Monsters of Folk that the combined 15 (or so) albums of its members haven’t given you in the last five years? You should consider yourself lucky they even let people like you listen to music. The vocals are unmistakable, but the musical influences are often far more subtle. Rather than a bone-crushing contest between creative giants, it appears to be business as usual for the Monsters. From what I perceive their roles in their respective main projects to be, it is not a stretch to imagine that they wouldn’t take the chance to let someone else steer the ship for a while, and just navigating. There seems to be a fairly even distribution of creative influence, so if you (reader) are a fan of any of their other works, there will definitely be something on here for you. However, If you’re just looking for another My Morning Jacket or Bright Eyes release to hold you over until the next “real” album comes out, you’re setting yourself up for disappointment, so if you don’t like it you have no one but yourself to blame.
Chuck Arnold, Student Body President - Class of '56
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