Monkeyswirl - Late In The Evening

Hear The Track Here

I almost PML when I saw the comment for this track. 'Two parts insomnia and one part acoustic' it proudly proclaims and I'd say the description is probably true of all sorts of music. Forget the drug abuse, it's all about the sleep deprivation! Monkeyswirl is a new name to me and, I suspect, Soundclick too judging by his message board. Kevin Legault (aka Monkeyswirl) is another in a long, long line of rock influenced Canadian musicians of which there seem to be hundreds of thousands. When someone comes to write an early history of the MP3 scene what will come as a surprise is the way Canadian musicians have carved their own particular niche in it. Just on Soundclick alone there's Cam, Cameron Pierce, Soul Dust to mention just a few of the 19,000+ Canadians that live on this site.

Please note that I did not use the words 'plague' or 'infestation' anywhere. :D

I have found a great many decent (and some great) acoustic musicians, especially the kind that add vocals and harmonies to their tracks, and Monkeyswirl is a welcome addition to that growing crowd. Although the production on Late In The Evening has a very boomy reverb sound, everything still comes through clear enough, especially the lead vocals and the acoustic guitar which has just the right amount of EQ to really cut. In addition, the drums IMHO were too wooly and undefined so they tended to get lost in the track.

Musically, however, this track is mighty fine, as no Canadian worth their salt might say. I do admit to a huge bias towards this genre having long been a fan of Starting Over, Cameron Peirce et al, not to mention their more commercial forebearers of acoustic vocal rock. There is definite space in this track, a wide open feel in musical feel if not quite in sound, and that never fails to please someone like me. There is a time when you need a punchy production and times when you need to lay back, and this is one laid back moment right here. Certainly makes me want to go and listen to some more, and that can't be a bad thing.

Class acoustic rock.