Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Monowi Twins
Label: Self-released
Release: 2014
Running time: 49:14
Rating: 4/5
Monowi Twins are Sanja FC (no, not the football club) and Andi Koglot. Back in April, with the EP »5 Tales«, they signaled that a fundamentally alternative outfit was rising on the horizon, one that takes in musical information far more broadly, since the form of the songs is loose enough genre-wise, unpolished and fresh. »Different« in the truest sense of the word, in other words.
Andi Koglot is a true D.I.Y. wizard and musical visionary. Instrumentation and arrangements are his domain, and keeping him company is the voice of the bold, untamed Sanja – at times eccentric, at times shy, teasingly biting, darkly brooding, even broken and hopelessly drifting, but never saccharine or sugary. She doesn’t skimp on passion or expressive vocal power, and she serves up her heart on a platter. The two musicians work like a dream creative team, building a hugely effective and distinctive musical form in just a few strokes. It also wears a veil of eclecticism. Within the same song, Sanja’s vocal can be loaded with anxiety and vulnerability, and in the next moment (the chorus melody of Crystal Empires) be overtaken by extraordinary tenderness (be sure to check out the dreamy, far-gazing Breach and right after it Please, I Insest, where the vocal is moving in its tenderness). In every respect Sanja’s voice is hugely penetrating in conveying feelings and bringing the messages in the verses to life, and that’s a winning poker hand of aces for the duo. Her English is excellent, if not downright brilliant. I think the duo should urgently be looking for a shot with a bigger label abroad. Universal Music, Island Records and so on would be worth considering… the thing has topicality and uniqueness in one hand. It’s alternative, and at the same time the music has a good whiff of folk. The song Little Bastards, where the melancholic melody of a harmonica tastefully joins the banjo, could, with Sanja’s exceptionally felt vocal charm, shake up the popular charts on the international scene!
The duo’s strength, which lifts them above the gray of average artistic anonymity, is a fully worked-out musical vision, where Koglot’s versatility definitely brings an outstanding yield of symbiotic interplay among the elements that build the soundscapes within the songs. The duo has invited quite a few musicians to join in. The result is an extremely effective, contrasting weave of subtly blended programmed patterns (extra sub-rhythms, sound effects), synth veils, a touch of piano, strings, harmonica and trumpet, while instead of guitars, the basic generator of the classic phrase (the kind we look for in rock music) this time is the banjo. Koglot knows how to measure out short, clear steps in the arrangements, by the axiom of less is more. Take Please, I Insest: the touching vocal of Sanja takes the absolute dominant role, a simple banjo line »crackles« beneath it, and the whole thing is wrapped in a gentle veil of »trippy« »effected« keyboard coloring: a minimalist approach by the less-is-more principle that convincingly ignites and wins you over. Koglot often layers sound upon sound through a song and creates exceptionally vivid waves of atmosphere within the tracks.
Monowi Twins are hard to fit into any genre table. Broadly speaking, we can call them alternative rock, but that’s a far too loose label. The whole eclectic fusion brings together traditional Americana sounds, especially in the darker moments from the first part of the album, with »bright« moments of neo-classicism as an evener (added string and piano arrangements), but most of all it’s the minimalism of pure melodic forms that gets under your skin fast, with a touch of trippy indie rock aesthetics, where the artistic authenticity is especially strikingly effective. The Supreme Psycho has a faint SKA veil in its rhythm, and the trumpet only strengthens that feel. Often the basic generator of melody is just Sanja’s voice, while the backing keeps building contrasting layers of the soundscape for a graduated escalation (dramatization) of moods. As said. With all the confessional flirting with the otherwise predictable form of Americana, Monowi Twins build a special world of alternative music that you surely haven’t discovered yet. The debut »Hush Now« is a sincerely genuine imprint of the inner feelings of a wounded heart, healed by hope and faith in the thing it beats for. That’s why this is an album soaked in remarkable courage and adventurous exploration, and its peculiarity and strangeness will charm you.
Oh, and by the way, maybe the following sentence won’t hurt. For orientation, even if I’m doing the band a slight injustice, it may not be superfluous to toss out that Monowi Twins will be interesting to fans of a colorful musical palette ranging from Wovenhand all the way to 16 Horsepower, but by no means should you expect the sugar of the likes of Florence And The Machine.
Lineup
Sanja FC – vocals, backing vocals
Andi Koglot – banjo, resonator guitar, piano, keyboards, programming, vocals on track no. 5
GUEST MUSICIANS:
Eva Razložnik – cello
Martin Bezjak – viola & violin
Miha Smrekar – trumpet
Eva Mavsar – bass guitar, backing vocals on track no. 4
Andraž Žnidarčič – backing vocals on track no. 4
Production
Andi Kogot
Track list
1. Curb Crawlin’ 187 (04:59)
2. So B Eet (05:01)
3. Little Bastards (03:36)
4. Consider The Daffodils (04:40)
5. Crystal Empires (05:03)
6. Charlie (03:03)
7. The Supreme Psycho (04:19)
8. Blue Silk Ballad (04:16)
9. Breach (05:30)
10. Please, I Insest (05:52)
11. Narrative (02:41)
