Monumental

If members of Hum and Gish-/Siamese Dream-era Smashing Pumpkins had ever collaborated and traded off instruments at random during the production of an album, the end result would have sounded a lot like Monument to No One’s self-titled debut. Although taking the Austin band more than a year to finish, this 9-track effort was definitely worth the wait.

While the band may be a monument to no one in particular, it is certainly a monument to the highly influential sounds of the ’90s midwest indie rock scene. Even the song titles, straightforward and uncomplicated by unnecessary creativity, read like the debut album of any ’90s giant.

Definitely rhythm-oriented, MTNO’s brilliance shifts between layers of evenly-fuzzed and super clean guitar, passing between shadow and light on any given track. The end result is not just a richly dynamic song, but an overall dynamic listening experience from ‘Planetary’ to the unapologetically Hum-inspired ‘Day of Reckoning’ (I had to check my iTunes library to ensure I hadn’t shuffled to another album).

Front man Eli Slate’s vocals, like the drifting guitars, switch from a melancholic monotone to a laconic angst as he displays a controlled tonal range, capturing perfectly the mood and ambience of each song. Slate and lead guitarist Steve Anderson show exceptional synchronization with one another, sometimes blending their two guitars into one huge distorted power chord, or accenting uncommon chord progressions with charged solos, and bassist Mike McKinnon does a superb job of alternating the allegiance of his distinguished hooks between Dan Skarbek’s masterful drumming and the powerful chorus of guitars.

Despite the album’s long production stages, the songs work well to further accentuate MTNO’s charismatic appeal. They reveal less of a largely incongruous collection of tracks and more of an exemplary dynamism: music that advances and retreats, curving adventurously outward and inward like the bold lines of the of the enigmatic statues depicted on their album cover.

- N. Gonzales

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