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Cook’s Corner #5
new monsoon: downstream
The “Mountain Air” that opens this river voyage is just the thing to make one hop onto a barrel and head off with a band. It’s the first of many cosmic cowboy tunes that litter this terrific release. Plenty of sweet sweet slide work makes for serious country comfort while the voices sing in a pure, clean tone reminiscent of early Eagles or Poco. They might stone me for saying it, but on “Ladybug” they even evoke Seals & Crofts. None of this is a dig because their tunes hold up well held up against music that has endured for decades. That they can weld such past radio stalwarts to a musical bent not dissimilar to Garaj Mahal is doubly impressive. Their thickly percussive feel excels over Garaj, though, because their songs are so much more engaging than the endless noodling of Fareed and Company. New Monsoon belts out utterly non-cynical sing-a-longs and then drops a fogged out road funk like “Double Clutch” on you. Diverse it is, but never in a labored way. The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band might be a good touchstone for their free-range rambling. downstream harkens back to an age where radio friendly music could be both accessible AND richly textured.
