"who are you to look the other way..."
"Don't Move", the song and accompanying video, is a trip. A sonic conception that sports a musical narrative that makes it's own rules, blends genre's and mental cues in surprising ways, feels easy on it's feet, the opposite of clumsy, feels deceptively simple in it's construction but is amazingly produced, has a vocal aesthetic that feels honed in decades of radio friendliness making it sound instantly iconic and, well, has one of the most drop dead bass guitar sounds ever committed to a digital recording or to tape (do recording studios even record in analog anymore- maybe some do).
I had to get those thoughts up and out (front and center) because I am so incredibly impressed by the art rock, art pop divergence here. It is that kind of thing that makes me happy. A cause for celebration and a source of inspiration. I mean, when I first heard this track (since I have absorbed it maybe a hundred times), I thought immediately of a band like MGMT. Oh, bands, yes, bands... in my scatterbrained expanding appreciation of "Don't Move" I have typed away not even mentioning the authors of this song. They are a three piece outfit out of Athens, Georgia called Monsoon. They had a hit song about five years ago that was featured in a Toyota (Super Bowl commercial) and then they took a break. Some breaks are unexpected diversions, false steps but from the sound of "Don't Move" the time away feels purposeful, feels like a blessing.
I mentioned MGMT and that doesn't mean that Monsoon sounds like them, they do not but (to me) both bands seem to not give a flying fuck about the current trends. "Don't Move" is not full of indie tropes, the kind I have to hack through with a machete every day as I make my way through hundreds of submissions. Monsoon, comprised of Sienna Chandler on guitar/vocals, Roan O'Reilly on bass/vocals and Joey Kegel on drums, seem to have their own askew vision of sonic storytelling. Like MGMT (or Television or Pavement for that matter), on "Don't Move", their narrative is full of WTF moments. I don't have the foggiest idea what the song is about. This might bother you, it doesn't me. While I can fully appreciate songs / art that wears it's vision, agenda on it's sleeves, I also like to enjoy impressionistic absurdist, avant garde imaginings (improvisational ID based) that function more as elusive dreams than emotional manifestos.
Great stuff. A sophomore album is promised for 2022.
-Robb Donker Curtius
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM - PRESS NOTES:
https://www.monsoonforever.com/
https://www.facebook.com/monsoonmusic/
https://twitter.com/monsoonband
https://www.instagram.com/monsoonband/
https://open.spotify.com/artist/5ZRsRAHWhzra474333Qtb9
https://www.youtube.com/user/MonsoonAthensGa
https://monsoonband.bandcamp.com/album/ride-arolla
Monsoon is a three-piece Vogue Rock band from Athens, Georgia, fronted by Sienna Chandler on guitar/vocals, Roan O'Reilly on bass/vocals and Joey Kegel on drums. After capturing a mass audience from their song placement [Ride A'Rolla] in the 2016 Toyota Corolla commercial that aired during the Super Bowl, Monsoon will be set to release new album "Ghost Party" in the spring of 2022.
indie rock, Monsoon, Athens, Georgia, divergent pop, indie experimental, lush rock, art rock, art pop, Sienna Chandler, Roan O'Reilly, Joey Kegel, surprising twists, lush, superb bass sound, "Don't Move",
We would love to be around for another 11 years!
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