Mason's lyrics are delivered brilliantly, their dream-like quality drifting around an album that comfortably takes in a host of genres, including dance ("Towers of Power") and hip-hop ("More Money, More Fire").
Politics can often waylay even the best musicians, but it seems to have the opposite effect on Mason here, inspiring him to create some of his finest and most thought-provoking material.
Like Boys Outside, Monkey Minds casts Steve Mason as a gifted songwriter, a world-worn bringer of anger, melancholy, hope and melody.
Monkey Minds In The Devil’s Time is a rich and literate album, which inspires conversation and debate.
Over 20 sprawling but strategically stitched tracks, its temperament veers from solipsistic to altruistic, charting Mason’s transformation from a man too insecure to leave his room, to one who can no longer ignore the injustices transpiring outside his window.
Despite the hard-hitting choice of subject matter, Monkey Minds is pleasingly appealing.
Veering between the melancholic luls of his Beta Band days and the more experimental folk and reggae of 2010 solo debut ‘Boys Outside’, it’s a moment of musical clarity in a fucked-up world.
The Old Problem 0.12
Lie Awake 0.25
Flyover '98 0.43
A Lot of Love 0.60
The Last of the Heroes 0.11
Lonely 0.80
Safe Population 0.40
Friends For Evermore 0.20
Seen It All Before 0.72
From Hate We Hope 0.25
Oh My Lord 0.83
Goodbye Youth 0.10
Never Be Alone 0.19
Behind the Curtains 0.09
More Money, More Fire 0.32
Fire! 0.38
Operation Mason 0.01
Fight Them Back 0.54
Towers of Power 0.30
Come To Me 0.90
#13 | / | Q Magazine |
#94 | / | Rough Trade |