Monktrump - The Rain

Hear The Track Here

After a shaky start Soundclick artist Mike Atkins aka Monktrump has - as they say - some good of late. Initially I found his recording process and songwriting style a bit off putting, and I probably said so. However, over the last year or so Monktrump has come in leaps and bounds musically and technically leading to a string of highly recommended's from this reviewer over the last year or so. Still, as always, you are only as good as the last one, so you keep chucking and we'll keep jiving. Personally though, I have to say, as much as we all need the rain and without it we'd all shrivel up and die blah blah but I can't stand the damn stuff. To write a song about (or aboot) it is a sure sign that the artist is Canadian - and for that small crack I shall go to hell.

So, donning galoshes and a sturdy 'brella lets go splashing inn the stuff (Ed: He's on something, I'll be bound)

The bound in technical competence I mentioned is definitely a set feature of this artist's performance these days as The Rain will undoubtedly show. There is a dedication to fidelity he is capturing here that is the production of lots and lots of hours spent fine tuning and tweaking. Such a great shame then most of that hard work was expended on the guitars and vocals leaving the bass and drums to fend for themselves. Arrrrrggghhhhh. That sound is not me, folks. I'm just accurately capturing what Mike is doing right now while reading these words. Seems like the guy can't win for losing but hey - these are only opinions after all.

Even though it's a fairly sedate rock ballad - and you know I haven't much time for them - it should have carried more impact sonically than it does. Moreover, what bass and drums there are don't actually occur where IMHO they are needed most desperately in the straight chord sections. I don't know maybe the drums and bass are REAL quiet there and I'm not hearing it right but I have heard this track on three different systems and got the same results. Despite all this technical bitching and moaning whether or not you like this track will boil down t whether you like the genre or not. On a lot of levels this is not as good as some of the work Monktrump has delivered lately but with a few tweaks I think this could be a whole lot better.