KRVX

Matt Mon-duh-nyle. Matt Mon-duh-nill. No. It’s Matt Mon-dan-ill-ie. When I first met Matt, I had some confusion on pronouncing his name (ugh), but, thankfully, I don’t think that he minded much. He snuck me into a secret party he was DJ-ing at during FFFFest last year, and he got us both a beer while we hung out for a bit. We talked about KVRX, recording, and his new album that was set to come out the following year. He told me that he was getting a band together, and to expect something different than his previous Ducktails releases. Indeed, The Flower Lane sounds much more produced and structured than his last album, and marks a dramatic turning point in this project. Collaborations are abundant here, with Oneohtrix Point Never, Madeline Follin of Cults and Jessa Farkas on vocals, and even Martin Courtney on piano. Mondanile gets help from a lot of friends to take the big step into the studio, and makes great use of the production value this decision can offer while also managing to steer clear from the horrifying cliché of sounding over-produced. My only suggestion would be that the songs could have been taken a little further in terms of structure, since some of them are a little too repetitive. Yet the emotions I feel while listening make up for it. Inspired by the album art, I have invented some characters to help describe them: The friendly neighbor with lots of weed of “Ivy Covered House,” the brooding stalker that ends up being a cool friend of “Sedan Magic,” the timid dude that always passes by a girl he likes but never talks to her of “Timothy Shy,” and David Liebe Hart’s grownup insect-alien son of “Planet Phrom.” Fans of Ducktails’s old releases may enjoy the familiar sound of the opening and closing tracks the most, but if you’re still on the fence about Mondanile’s new direction after hearing the first two singles, I really recommend giving this album a chance.