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Mon Frere
- Blood, Sweat, and Swords Review
by Rob Nipe
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Mon Frere draws undeniable comparisons
to another a band, Mates of State. Both bands are fronted by women and
rely heavily on keyboards and drums. The two bands diverge in their
sound though. Mates of State has a phrenetic, almost ADD approach to music
that seamlessly jumps from one melody to another without any awkwardness.
Mon Frere takes a decidedly more straight forward rock approach. And it
is disappointing. I don't think the fault lies in Mon Frere as much as
it does myself for denying the band that is my brother to stand apart from
Mates of State. Bad, Rob, bad.
The album opens with "YMMWDSB." The keyboard
delicately picks out a falling melody. The fifth time it repeats the bass
(the other main difference between Mates of State and Mon Frere) kicks
in and the song takes off. "You make me wanna destroy something beautiful
/ You make me wanna curl up in a ball and die." The angst created by high
school was apparently too much to forget. Everything is in place and it
all looks too pretty. I just don't believe that this girl is going to destroy
anything let alone something that is beautiful. Courtney Love on the other
hand has a room of beautiful things that she keeps just to destroy.
The problem I think in this song and the
rest of the album is also the main difference with the two bands. Mon Frere
relies on the bass part to move a song along. The keyboard takes a back
seat. This is never more apparent than in "You Don't Mind". The bass plays
this syncopated rhythm that the keyboard just plays around. And it doesn't
complement the bass line as much as it just fills in the space in-between.
And when you only have three instruments besides a voice, one of those
shouldn't be filling out your sound. This is a solid, if unremarkable,
first album.
[ed note: Mon Frere does not have a bass player. All bass parts heard
are the left hand on the keyboard.]
CD Info and Links
Mon Frere - Blood, Sweat, and Swords
Label:Cake
Rating:
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