If
Matt Mondanile were around in the early 90s, there's no doubt he'd
have been lumped in with the Stephen Malkmus. He'd get labelled a
generational spokesman and slacker prince even though, in actual
fact, both men are actually trying
in every sense of the word. In interviews they may seem like they
barely care and don't take themselves seriously, yet their music is a
testament to the idea that what looks effortless and apathetic is
often a result of fertile, unobstructed creativity. Malkmus pooled
his love of cryptic lyrics, The Fall, sports, California, and noisy
pop to eventually become the hipster king we know and love. He's
still vital yet he's long since crested the hill. Mondanile,
meanwhile, is just about to get to the middle of his journey.
After unintentionally getting swept
into the chillwave scene along with bands like Toro Y Moi and Washed
Out, Mondanile spent the last Ducktails record, Ducktails III:
Arcade Dynamics, with one foot
in the past and one in the future. Perhaps it took the ascendance of
his 'main' band, Real Estate, to spur him to do something more
expansive and focused with Ducktails...? In any case, The
Flower Lane sees him take
command of a full backing band and various guests, wrangling them all
onto a record that remakes Ducktails into something more akin to
Panda Bear's “separate but equal” solo stuff outside of Animal
Collective.
This
means The Flower Lane
is really god damn good.
If
we're going with the premise that Ducktails are essentially a band
now and no longer solo, The Flower Lane
could be qualified as the true debut of Ducktails, since until now it
was Mondanile fiddling around by himself with guitar psychedelics,
electronic soundscapes, and scruffy vocals. Mind you, the leap
achieved by The Flower Lane
is one of overall sound rather than atmosphere. It's still somewhat
retro and nostalgic and feels like a Ducktails album feels...but it
sounds different.
Ducktails to me always straddled the chillwave scene and the scene
occupied by modern psychedelic contemporaries like the Black Angels,
Mac DeMarco, The Fresh & Onlys, etc. The 'new' Ducktails are
still both to an extent while also nodding to modern synth-pop and
defunct brothers-in-arms like The Clean and the Flying Nun record
label contingent.
Oddly
I think The Flower Lane
works as well as it does because
it barely resembles the Ducktails of old. More than just
putting out a polished version of Ducktails III,
Matt Mondanile is also trying new things and doing them well. The
syrupy guitar solo on 'Planet Phrom' reminds me of a particularly
good Felt or Feelies tune, while the '80s digital delay sound on the
horns of 'Under Cover' tips a hat to Destroyer's recent Kaputt.
Anyway, if The Flower Lane
doesn't sound enough like the old Ducktails you know and love, that's
only a bad thing if you just want 30 more versions of 'Killin' The
Vibe' and 'Welcome Home (I'm Back).' And yes, sometimes I,
too, could go for more of those.
Still!
Still,
there's no denying how far Ducktails has come. Try comparing songs
like the mildly funky 'Assistant Director' to the repetitive, simple,
bored-stoned-guy-screwing-around vibe of older stuff like 'Beach
Point Pleasant.' No more lo-fi drum beats and guitars ran through a
multitude of effects to make up for musical inability/apathy on this
record! Now it's more like a sampler platter of saxophones, funky
pianos/organs, gleaming neon synth sounds, and female vocals sprayed
across a web of jingle-jangle guitars, lucid ruminations, and one of
the most reverent and spot-on covers I've ever heard ('Planet
Phrom'). With The Flower Lane
Matt Mondanile has proven he's a songwriter and artist every bit as
capable and imaginative as his better known contemporaries. We may
not look back on this one as his masterpiece, but at the very least
it's a big step in that direction.
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