Album Reviews

Mona – Mona: (Universal/Island B004XQC276): The rugged Mona boys have become the darlings of the underground music press in recent months, but there is an assurance about this release that suggests huge mainstream success ahead. The singer sounds similar to Bono throughout: nasal, arrogant and somehow angelic, and on tracks such as Say You Will you can imagine lighters held aloft as his honeyed words drift over the crowds and off into the night. The tunes are expansive, glorious, textured and cinematic and it is easy to picture the band belting out Teenager or Pavement on a stadium stage. A breathtaking slab of expansive Americana. SG

Okkervil River – I Am Very Far (Jagjaguwar B004SHHJFU) £11.99: When Will Sheff sings, you feel he means what he says. Texas-based Okkervil River, now on to their sixth studio album, are one of the finest groups to take cues from American country and western with their poetic and novelistic lyrics. Sheff tells stories like a novelist – tales of blood and bombast, and love, and regret. Songs such as We Need A Myth and Rider are wild and powerful, and orchestral like Arcade Fire even, but this is perhaps Sheff’s finest collection of words above all. An intense ride through the landscape of a man’s mind. IS

Gillian Keith – Strauss songs. Champs Hill Records CHRCD20 £5.99: Richard Strauss’s career was saturated in song and this recital ranges from his first, Standchen, through less familiar works like Madchenblumen and Drei Lieder der Ophelia to his last, Malven. The Canadian soprano Gillian Keith is oddly tentative in the famous Standchen and Simon Lepper’s accompaniment sounds too far forward. There is warmer lyricism in Rote Rosen and the five songs of Op 48 but these pieces can take more colour and more confidence than is brought to them here. RC

Stravinsky – Diversions. Melba, MR 301128 £13.99: Taiwan-born, Australia-raised and American-trained, Ray Chen went on to win important competitions including the Yehudi Menuhin. Beside his impressive technical facility, a strong personality shines through in this delightful recording. The neo-classicism of the Suite after themes by Pergolesi is ideal for his mobile wit and he dispatches arrangements like the Danse Russe from Petrushka with verve. Intelligent accompaniments from Timothy Young enhance a fine enterprise. RC