Pop

Tuesday, 11 February 2014

The Family Monroe - "Portraits Vol. 1" Review

"Portraits Vol. 1" is available for free on bandcamp.

Often armed with nothing more than a guitar and two sets of lovely vocals, The Family Monroe's noir style is different, emotional and powerful.

The Family Monroe, a duo consisting of Craig Swan and Amy Rose, were formed in Liverpool a little under two years ago. They have recently released their debut EP - Portraits Vol. 1 - for free on bandcamp and boy, are they good.

Their style takes heavy influence from the early 1950's, a time of considerable change for the music industry, and The Family Monroe do perfectly to capture this spirit. The album is minimalistic and yet heart-wrenching, the simplicity of their music only emphasising the haunting and yet beautiful vocals - Rose's voice is particularly unique, and could be likened to that of the Cocteau Twin's Elizabeth Fraser - this is especially evident in Johnny Remember Me. However, Swan's voice does well to harmonise almost perfectly with Rose's, and together they create a vocally confident and dominant piece of work that possesses an eerie atmosphere steeped in nostalgia and melancholy.

Each song on the album is pretty much faultless individually, with songs like Hotel Room and Johnny Remember Me standing out as stunning examples of The Family Monroe's ability, but the album overall does get a little repetitive. The slow and solemn nature of their music, though often beautiful, can become slightly tiresome and is generally heavy listening when listening to the EP from front to back.

Generally, though, The Family Monroe are a breath of fresh air. I haven't heard a band like them before (and I'll bet you you haven't either), and the emotion-filled songwriting and execution is haunting, dark and brilliant. Though not everyone's cup of tea (and admittedly, not one to listen to when you're happy), you'd be horribly missing out if you didn't give them a listen. One of my personal favourite new bands.

8.5/10 - An almost perfectly formed album, let down only slightly by the repetitiveness of their songs.