Today's Track: Monsters of Folk "Temazcal"

Today, I went for an early morning run, at least what has passed for early morning this past few weeks. Running alongside the frigid January water in South Boston, sun shining down into my eyes, my laborious strides were eased by the eerie, fluid orchestration of Monsters of Folk's "Temazcal." Initially, I thought of the quartet's self-titled debut as merely a fair hold-me-over until Conor Oberst released new material with Bright Eyes or The Mystic Valley Band. And yet, it was foolish of me to ever suppose that a group consisting of consummate indie artists Jim James, M. Ward, Oberst, and Mike Mogis, were capable of anything less than a near peerless effort.

"Temazcal" trots forth a delightfully light and drifting aura, both in its instrumentation and vocal makeup. While the version included on the 2009 album is a graceful display of lyrical imagery from Oberst, I find that this version further underlines the haunting, serene nature of the track's words with M. Ward taking the lead. Ward's near monotone serenade stokes the beleaguered reflection of "Temazcal," and accentuates the dream-like, smoothly flowing riffs off Mogis and Ward's guitars as James lends his soft, spectral vocals in the background. With the acoustic guitars of Oberst and James forming the track's backbone, there are chilling drops of otherworldliness as Ward coos "I'm sweating out my secret in the Temazcal / They're screaming in the calle that a star's about to fall." In the first verse, "The love we made at gunpoint wasn't love at all" becomes a raw indictment when fortified by the measured emptiness that characterizes Ward brings in his delivery. Furthermore, the drifting undulation becomes enhanced with the track freed from the grounding constraint of percussion, coupled with Ward's vocals this freshens the hazing aura of "Temazcal."