Well into their second decade with four albums in the rearview,
Monophonics
tighten their alliance with Ohio's
Colemine Records
, the dusty soul specialists who have issued some of their singles, for
It's Only Us
. Recorded at their Transistor Sound Studio home base, this is a little trippier and looser than the preceding
Sound of Sinning
. Maybe it's merely coincidental, but it's certainly appropriate that the Bay Area band, recording for a Midwest label, move a little closer here toward the early-'70s output of Chicago and Detroit labels like
Curtom
,
Cadet Concept
, and
Westbound
. They stretch out on "Last One Standing," unfurling a rolling groove that recalls
Curtis Mayfield
's "Move on Up," and at some points recall the slightly eerie rock/soul experiments
Charles Stepney
conducted with
the Rotary Connection
(though the arsenal of keyboards for those sessions wasn't nearly as extensive). At the same time,
often allude to the kind of turmoil and uncertainty shared by the evoked and current eras, intensifying the fraught mood by submerging their sound in reverb. No matter how much
Kelly Finnigan
cloaks or smears his sweet and sour voice, he's one of the more affecting singers of his kind, the focal point amid an expertly arranged band and supporting voices, strings, and brass. ~ Andy Kellman