No, for real – Spanish folk rockers Stormy Mondays recently won NASA’s space rock contest, ensuring their music would be played in space on board the Endeavor Space Shuttle. How cool is that to start with!
Anyway, I’m bringing Stormy Mondays up because they recently issued a double EP, part 1 being called “Wading the River” and part 2 “The Lay of the Land”.
Wading The River is the EP I started with. It’s very catchy and folky in a 60s psychedellica meeting 90’s brit pop wittiness kind of a way. There are a lot of chimes and poppy melodies, the voice of frontman Jorge Otero being distinctive yet sounding pleasantly diverse. I love the long sax solo in “Struck by life”, which is preceded by a very brit poppy alla Elvis Costello track “Silent Star” and followed by “One Note (Rock’n Roll)” that can easily fit the repertoire of a modern era Lou Reed.
Not only the variety of tracks is surprising! The variety of instruments used in the recording of the two EP’s is insane! Electric and acoustic guitar (6 and 12 strings), tenor guitar, Veillette Gryphon, Lap Steel, percussion, piano, Hammond organ, Rhodes and Wurlitzer electric pianos, Michelsonne toy piano, glockenspiel, electric and fretless bass, Bass VI, ukulele, background vocals, hurdy-gurdy, violin, violoncello, tenor and baritone sax, flute, clarinet, trumpet, flügelhorn. It seems that everybody that worked on this album managed to play at least three instruments, which is purely mindblowing. Oh well!
After the Latin-influenced “Never Enough” I’m ready to check out the second part of the EP “The Lay Of The Land”, which starts with the dreamy and ironical “Talking in my sleep”. Overall “The Lay Of The Land” continues the spirit of “Wading The River”, my favorite tracks of the second part being the jazzy and sentimental “Moon Almost Full” and the ode to nightlife “My Midnight World”.
Stormy Mondays are an interesting band to follow and thankfully they can be listened to here on Earth too! Listen to “Wading The River” and “The Lay of The Land” and watch some of the band’s videos here .
Stormy Mondays are also on Facebook, and Twitter on Spanish and English. More info also on their official website www.stormymondays.com
