Old Monk – “Posing As Love”

Brooklyn’s Old Monk is set to release their highly-anticipated sophomore album, Posing Love today via Eenie Meenie Records.  The trio of vocalist/guitarist Josh Carrafa, drummer Ian Burns and bassist Tsugumi Takashi create an energetic brand of garage-rock that is informed by classic rock with prog rock tendencies and equal parts punk and power-pop along with frenetic, off-kilter time signatures, witty lyrics and wailing guitar solos.            

Last year the band spent their time recording and releasing four singles from the album and they are front-loaded in the first half including standouts “Volcanic Prisons” which tells a story about a sailor, robots and a volcano and is set to a hefty slice of liquid-hot prog-punk magma and “Fowl And Foe”, a tightly-spun bundle of raw nerves and energy with a loose bass line, choppy rhythm and soaring vocal melody.  The other two previously released singles; the propulsive and catchy “Mages” and “Seymour”, with its loud/soft dynamic return alongside the rip-roaring surf-rock inspired new single, “Alta Rush”.  The last half of the album is filled with new songs such as “Flesh” which features a hip-swiveling rhythm, falsetto vocals and some anthemic arena-worthy guitar lines and the dynamic “Eurasisa” which is bolstered by a rumbling bass line, tumbling drums and several time changes.  Another standout, “History” is highlighted by jangly guitars and a bright, bouncy rhythm that alternates with heavier, chugging guitars.  Later, the short instrumental jam “Balloon” pops off with Ian’s rapid-fire drumming and ringing guitars and the twelve-song album closes out with the winding guitar and bass interplay of the epic, “Secrets In The Lawn”. 

With their new album, Posing As Love, Old Monk have perfected their garage-pop sound and delivered on the promise of their outstanding debut.                    

Stream “Alta Rush” here: https://soundcloud.com/eeniemeenie/old-monk-alta-rush

Additionally, the band has posted a new website as a companion to the album that features an interactive lyric page for each song with pop-up pictures and notes that help tell the story of the songs here: www.posingaslove.com 

It fits in line with Josh’s sense of humor as he has also posted 8-bit animated gifs of memorable moments in music history here: http://musichistoryingifs.com/    

For more info: http://www.freeoldmonk.com/ and http://www.eeniemeenie.com/