‘Meet You After The Earthquake' by Monday Nights
ReviewI'm so pleased to be able to report so much Monday Nights activity at the moment: plenty of people are giving them live opportunities as the word of their excellence spreads (see below for upcoming chances to catch various permutations of the band) and at last their debut EP ‘Meet You After The Earthquake' is on the verge of release (it comes out on Friday).
Of the quintet of tracks, both pivotal song "Japan" and "Vices" have been featured as recent singles in their own right & as such, described & praised in ‘Hot Music Live' and so I suggest that you refresh your memories of what was written about them previously as the judgements still stand. "Turrah" has been out for well over a year & is now well established as live set opener but please feel free to revisit our review of that song too.
We have however not yet told you about "Illumination" nor "End(?)" so the spotlight needs to fall on these two today.
I've now heard the former live (as recently as Saturday) but the latter is as fresh to me as it will be to you.
Starting then with "Illumination": this is very much written in the form gentler end of the stylistic spectrum of Monday Nights: it actually harks back in my mind to "Flight" which came out some four years ago.
The interestingly titled "End (?)" is cut from similar cloth as regards tone & tempo (you can understand why the pacier tracks were the ones selected as singles) but rather than looking backwards towards their debut sound, exemplifies more whare they are today (though the even newer songs I heard at the weekend promise a coming brisk poppier approach at least to some extent) with more emphasis both on piano and shimmering processed sounds.
It's something of an elegy I think: greeting the apocalypse in a mood of sadness & regret and as such forms a neat companion piece with "Japan" and the pair of them are the tracks which come closest to being direct parts of the narrative which defines the whole EP.
"Illuminations" like "Vices" and "Turrah" does fit into the thematic framework too, but in a less direct way: all are apparently more to do with interpersonal relationships (though in the context of the EP, "Turrah" gains a more chilling meaning than I detected when it first came out) yet all can be seen as reflections on humanity & its frailties while contemplating doom.
Like all Monday Nights' work, this is sophisticated fare: both musically & lyrically and can only repay a significant diving down into their music. That normally runs the risk of being either precious or inaccessible but since I've heard 80% of the EP performed live, they've ensured that the songs work well even before you've had the opportunity to explore their depths. That I've heard them played by a five piece lineup & a four piece with some upcoming shows due to be played as a duo also evidences the robustness of the compositions regarding whether they can only work properly in a single fixed arrangement or not.
They have worked long & hard at these songs & this really shows: this is perfectly crafted music.
The Monday Nights story to date has tended to be one of wistful melancholy: and this they've nailed. However, while trademark sounds are no bad thing in the music business, too much of one approach can devalue the whole. I wonder if ‘Meet You After The Earthquake' documents the culmination of a phase of their music? Certainly when you hear new tracks like "Rita" you'll need to rethink your evaluation of the band. I did.
In the meantime, this certainly marks a high spot for the band so far.
As noted, a slimmed down lineup will be playing at the HMV Empire in Coventry tomorrow (Thursday) and a full version at the Merchants Inn in Rugby on Friday to mark the release of the EP.