Monument, “Goes Canoeing” LP

cover-monument-goes-canoeingMonument
Goes Canoeing
(Tiny Engines)

Monument‘s Goes Canoeing is a late ’90s throwback. Despite the fact that I really don’t want to pigeonhole Monument as a tribute act, when listening to Goes Canoeing, it is certainly difficult not to notice the moments that remind me of other acts. There are some Bright Eyes elements – the trumpet on “Roots Run Deep,” for example – as well as the choral breakdown on “No Sleep, All Play,” that exactly apes the cadence of Piebald’s “Long Nights.”

Don’t get the idea that Monument is a bunch of plagiarists – rather than each song being gleaned wholesale from some other band, it’s simply the fact that there are a lot of moments on Goes Canoeing that sounds like classic Get Up Kids or Saves the Day. Something like “Glass House” might as well have been on one of Deep Elm’s Emo Diaries compilations.

And I mean all of this as a total compliment, by the way. I love the way this record sounds. The production hearkens back to the records I used to obsessively listen to in my late teens and early twenties, and Goes Canoeing is a powerfully sunny record that begs to get blasted from a car with the windows down (especially “Diamond Age,” which is currently the top contender for “Summer Jam 2011,” courtesy of its numerous singalong opportunities). In terms you might better understand, and to put this simply: Goes Canoeing is the first LP from a band that will soon be big and selling out clubs. Jump on this while you can still see them play small rooms.

The pressing info on this release is 275 copies on opaque orange, 175 copies on opaque light blue, and 50 copies on 180 gram black. That’s 500, and it will probably sell out. The orange is slightly marbled, but looks nice enough. The jacket is a matte sleeve that mutes the colors you see in the cover art, but gives it a nice tactile feel. It sounds fantastic, too – like I said, it’s sunny and warm, and is well-suited to open windows.