Stormy Mondays - Wading The River EP
- Written by Julia Lamb
Over their many years together as a band, folk-rock Americana quintet Stormy Mondays have built up an impressive list of accolades. From winning NASA’s Space Rock contest, which resulted in their song ‘Sunrise Number 1’ being played aboard the Endeavour Space Shuttle, to playing Woodstock in ’99 (making them the only Spanish to ever play Woodstock), to joining Bruce Springsteen on stage in performance, Stormy Mondays deserve credit where credit is due.
Their latest EP is Wading The River, a six-track exercise in rootsy, down-to-earth Americana. Opening track ‘Love and Fire’ is a warm entrance into the record, featuring countrified vocals and ultra smooth walking bass lines over mellow, softly-strummed-but-bouncy-nonetheless guitars. ‘Nobody Knows’ continues this easy-going, stripped back sound, but this time throws some delicate mandolins into the mix. The track’s chord progression is not unlike that of Oasis’ 1995 classic song ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’ – both of which thrive from their anthemic and somewhat cheesy choruses that stay glued in your mind.
The band gets slightly jazzy on ‘Silent Star’, a sparsely composed number featuring little more than warbling keys, a minimal beat and a sporadic viola for embellishment. It’s a soundscape that delicately synchronizes with the song’s lyrics, which tell a tale of simple adoration: “You hit the scene, 1926/Just like a dream, from a simpler world. The silver screen loved your graceful face/A beauty queen with roller curls”.
‘Struck By Life’ gives the record a touch of Bruce Springsteen-influence with its vintage rock ‘n roll chorus, while ‘One Note (Rock And Roll)’ and ‘Not Enough’ slip back into the band’s comfortably mellow sound.
Wading The River doesn’t strive to experiment with any far-reaching new sounds, but for the sound that the Stormy Mondays are looking for, it just about hits the nail on the head.