“Dear God (Sincerely M.O.F.)” by Monsters of Folk
By Marvin Marks on Dec 14, 2009 in Song Reviews
For awhile I’ve been meaning to pick up the debut self titled CD by Monsters of Folk for awhile as I’m a pretty decent sized fan of the solo work of some of the members of this indie rock supergroup, particularly M. Ward (the band also features Conor Oberst and Mike Mognis from Bright Eyes along with Jim James from My Morning Jacket.)
Well I finally bought it (on Amazon.com) and I was immediately very impressed by the first track, “Dear God (Sincerely M.O.F.)” which has a sort of Beta Band crossed with 70s soul vibe.
The verses are pretty killer (Oberst, Ward, & James all take turns on lead vocals) with a beautifully dreamy arrangement but it’s the soulful (and drenched in harmonies) chorus that really kicks my head in and makes this one of the best new songs I’ve heard this year. I immediately had to hear this song a second time the first time I heard it.
The only bad part to this album starting off with such a great track is that so far the rest of the CD’s 15 tracks seem like something of a disappointment in comparison, but it’s still early – I’ve only listened to the full album a couple of times but I’ve played this song many times. I’m not ready to give the full album a review. But this is definitely a great song.
Actually, track #4 “Temazcal” is pretty damn sweet too. It also talks about God and also has a delicious chorus featuring yummy harmonies. I guess I’m a sucker for that combination.
Become A MusicByDay.com Music Blogger.
This album (as a whole) is really growing on me more and more as I listen to it all in succession (without being overly distracted by the lead track on it’s own.) There’s a lot of great tunes on this CD.
Marvin Marks | Dec 14, 2009 | Reply
I really put the album off assuming it would blow (even though I loved Oberst’s recent solo album). I read an article about them in Spin and just thought “*yawn* ‘supergroup’ + circlejerk.” The album is actually very nice. Just goes to show you shouldn’t judge an album buy it’s name (even if it is incredibly banal). The album cover is god-awful too, lol, but the content is sublime. Seriously.
Great review.
Song Snack Music Reviews | Dec 15, 2009 | Reply
I like this album quite a bit myself – although at this point there are 4 or 5 songs I don’t care for that much (the faster songs for the most part.) I like these guys when they slow it down and kill it with the harmonies.
BrainFace | Dec 17, 2009 | Reply
I think this album takes awhile to get familiar with. I bought it and listened to it a few times but it really didn’t stick. I went back to it and love it. I think the songs are different from each other and does not make it easily accessible. After I went back to it, I loved it. It is truly a great album.
Jimmy | Jan 25, 2011 | Reply
This album has quite a few gems if you give it a chance. The opener Dear God is quite impressive. Temazcal is one of my new favorite songs to play on guitar. Baby Boomer, Ahead of the Curve, and Sandman, the Brakeman and Me are all well worth listening to over and over.
John | Nov 9, 2011 | Reply