Here There Be Monsters

When I first learned about the Monsters of Folk (Conor Oberst, Jim James, M. Ward, and Mike Mogis) supergroup, tour, album, and more touring, I was guardedly optimistic.  I had heard some live recordings of the group, but, to me, those sounded like the guys getting together to play a few of each others' songs and the occasional classic like "Always On My Mind" instead of a band with their own identity.  I wasn't sure whether we'd be seeing a one off fun little side project like the Bens (Folds, Lee, and Kweller) or a supergroup that somehow manages to do something somehow bigger than the sum of its parts like the Travelling Wilburys (Lefty, Nelson, Otis, Lucky, and Charlie T., Jr.).  After hearing the whole Monsters of Folk album (self titled) and seeing some of what these guys are doing live, I'm definitely thinking it'll be the latter.  The Wilburys tailed off after Roy Orbison passed, but with the ages of the Monsters, there is potential for at least a few more albums than the Wilburys put out.

At first glance, I didn't really see how the Monsters of Folk would work.  I imagine the guys are friends and respect each other as people, musicians, collaborators, an so on, but their voices just don't seem like they'd mesh.  You have Ward's lightly Waitsian (that's right...Waitsian) bluesy rasp, Oberst's wavery and sometimes rageful singing, and James's wide ranging dreamy melodies that sometimes sound like a muffled echo.  At second glance and first full listen, I can see why it works.  It seems that they all set aside whatever egos they may have and recorded a truly collaborative album.  "Temazcal" (in the first video below) is a great example of what I'm trying to get at.  The song has this great feeling of movement and wonder powered by Ward's vocals and amplified by James's haunting little pieces of backing vocals.  Like the rest of the album, I think "Temazcal" is at its best when all three of the vocalists are all singing.  Oberst's voice fits in surprisingly well and kind of grounds the song a bit for me.  See and hear for yourself:



Just to show that this isn't one trick pony territory, check out "The Sandman, The Breakman, and Me" where Jim James seems to be finding a nice balance between his early My Morning Jacket vocals and his more recent experimentation. 



There are definitely threads of My Morning Jacket, Bright Eyes, and M. Ward's solo stuff running through the album, but the Monsters definitely have their own unique sound and have managed to create an album that is tough to categorize.  It would be easy to say its folk, but there is a bit more going on than that...almost as if the Monsters are threatening to toss aside the pedal steel and acoustics and just plain rock out.