What are we talking about?
Mechanical Monkey – Ambition Impossible
Debut LP from the Brighton based Post-Hardcore infused Math Rock trio.
Summary: A varied and accomplished album. It’s Intricate without being messy and catchy without being predictable.
The instrumental tracks fit just as well with the feel of the album as the tracks with vocals do. It’s an interesting and energetic listen. This release definitely makes you want to catch these guys live. If the performance is even half as good as this album sounds it’d be a worthwhile audible experience.
What hooked me? From the off the instruments all gel together well in the form of a well organised chaos. Also I love instrumental tracks. When done properly
along with vocalised tracks the two can complement each other and add to the whole experience of a record. This is record a good example of that.
Key moments: Having listened to the album as a whole these are some of the moments that stood out:
Personality Vacuum – Great opener. Awkward yet catchy 20sec intro before the vocals come in with a surprising elegance to them. Instant attention grabber. It has grabbed me by the balls and whispered invitingly into my ear.
The Silent Itch – Wasn’t expecting an Instrumental track, a nice surprise. As the 2nd track on the LP following on from ‘Personality Vacuum’ it sets the stall out well for what’s to come
Euclid’s Birthday – The key moment comes around 2 minute mark through to the end. Laid back interlude bit, into explosive anthemic bit, into reverby bit, into crazy ¾ outro bit. Nice
The Implication – Backwards guitars can sound great can’t they? (That’s rhetorical; don’t e-mail me) This track shows an other side to the band yet still fits with overall theme.
The Proof Is In The Pudding (And You Ate All The Pudding) – I’m sure there’s a 7/8 bit in this before the jarring 4/4 outro. This is a great track, with an odd title. Instrumentation and odd structure is brilliant throughout. Easily one of my favourites on the album.
Combat – Nice joint vocals. Should do it more.
Ocular Patdown – That magic 2 minute mark again. Haunting guitar riff comes in darkly and colourfully, like a death in the wild west, before giving way to the stabby outro. Belting
Nilbog – Sound the Sample Klaxon!, I love samples. No record is truly complete without one, nice work.
I Tried To Buy A Polka, But All I Got Was This Waltz – Proof of the versatility of the band, a mostly clean song, slightly reminiscent of Highly Refined Pirates era Minus the Bear in its lighter moments. A varied and great track. From the title, to the first second to the last of this song it is great, a definite stand out on the album.
Feedback: I really like this album. Definitely makes me want to see these guys live. I think my beard filled out a bit listening to this too, such was its energy.
They Remind me a lot of Cave-In and Jetplane Landing in how they approach the songs and especially in their more vocal focussed moments.
Also the occasional ASIWYFA* and YMSS** instrumentation nod (ASIWYFA being a stated influence by the band) is noticeable but not blatant. There’s a line between being influenced and interpreting a sound to outright copying it by numbers, these guys are audibly aware of that.
*And So I Watch You From Afar
** Youthmovie soundtrack Strategies
Artwork: It’s an image of a screaming gorilla. It’s simple yet noticeable. It’s in-keeping with the shouting of the vocals and its simplicity complements the chaotic and busy nature of the tracks
Line from the band:
We caught up with Miles to grab some scoop from him on the release;
"We are really excited to be releasing our first full length album. It's our attempt at trying to capture the fun we have playing loud and often silly music together. We have kept our recording process as DIY as possible, with a generous dollop of help from the amazing Mark Roberts at the mixing controls. You can expect to see us playing some more shows in the Autumn! "
Vital Info:
You can check out the album on MM's bandcamp page as well as some earlier stuff; https://mechanicalmonkey.bandcamp.com
Reviewer Profile:
Kenn Rushworth is the drummer and shouty backing vocal guy in so-called Chemical Rock outfit Forever In Debt.
Evidence of his existence comes in the form of a poem collection called ‘One Fine Day Before the Apocalypse’ and recent non-crime related BBC appearances blah blah blah something political. Other than that he’s looking for his keys.