Those who follow the North American indie beat have singlehandedly brought raucous rock music back as a major aesthetical influence over numerous genres and styles of music in the last couple of years, but for acts like The Sound of Monday, what their peers may or may not be doing with a style essentially mastered in the new single “Keeper of the Mood” couldn’t matter less. In his latest release, The Sound of Monday’s creator Dave Jay Gerstein doesn’t sound like a man who has much of an interest in trying to fit in with the cool kids – he is the cool kid in the scene he’s surrounded by, and in letting the beat lead the way through a vibrant mixture of smart but efficient flavors in this track, he demonstrates a skillset that immediately puts him in an elite category of player.
Gerstein went with a pretty loose, raw style of mix for “Keeper of the Mood,” and I think it works well for the kind of material he was recording. There’s no space between the instruments; they’re on top of one another rather than evenly layered as if to replicate the sound of a band’s clattered attack in the middle of a crowded rock club somewhere in the past.
It’s powerful and overwhelming, yes, but it’s stylized to be a little over the top – while the track, and in an ironic fashion its music video as well, doesn’t shy away from decadence, it isn’t leaving anything unemployed here, either. All of the gluttonous grooving is unforced, which is why it feels both so sinful and so unbelievably right at the same time.
I’m very intrigued to hear how The Sound of Monday continues to develop and expand upon this brand in the months and years that follow “Keeper of the Mood” debuting, and I would expect other critics to agree with me this fall. You can tell that Gerstein’s not quite finished with his evolution here, and there are going to be a couple of aesthetical growing pains in the future, but if he’s already operating at this level I think he’ll be even better with more time and experience with this project as his main focus.