Chris's Album Reviews: Of Monsters and Men - My Head Is An Animal

 

 Nothing says indie rock like a person walking on a beach with a house behind them in waves

     The album My Head Is An Animal is a testament to how a single song can ruin your fan base. The first (and only) major single “Little Talks” is nothing like the rest of this album, so much so that it feels weird and out of place on an otherwise stellar album. Several of the songs fit well, but I fell that this album could use a little more production value. By that I don’t mean that its poor quality recording, I don’t think you can get poor quality recording any more, but I mean some songs (like little talks) just don’t feel like they belong on this album and the ones that do feel jumbled.

       I believe in a graph that marks each track and shows its flow and energy, what I am looking for is either a straight line, a wave or a strong upward of downward trend. This means I want an album to properly flow. When there are several peaks and valleys in an album I find myself having a much harder time getting into it. My Head Is An Animal is nothing but high peaks and low valleys. Typically this kills and album for me but here it just makes it annoying. I am always thinking about how things can be better and it really breaks my heart to think about how with just a little work this could be the best album of the year.

 This is how I see this albums energy reading.

     Each song has its own flow and I don’t want to review each of them however I will touch on my favorites. The album has one of the best opening songs for an album that I have heard in years with “Dirty Paws”. The song perfectly sets the tone for the entirety of the album, it has lots of build up and introduces us to their style of music with two singers being at the for-front with stunning harmonies. “Little Talks” is the best song on this album but needs to be replaced with a different song. It feels out of place, comes in with no warning and leaves you wanting more of the same but it never shows up. It has a strong punch and a strong horn section that just seems to fade right after it gets flowing."Love Love Love" is a song that makes you understand just how good of a singer the female vocalist really is. its a strong song that has very little back-up instruments.

I had to double check to make sure I wasn't on random when I first listened.

    

      My recommendation for Of Monsters and Men is to move around the songs to adjust the flow and remove "Little Talks" and release it as a single only. This album is very strong on its own and could be a classic if just a little more effort was put into it. Still, as is, this is a beautiful album that is rich with great songs that I defy most people not to enjoy. I will be, just in my own order.

8 out of 10 son’s that the mow the lawn.