Ducktails, the solo side project of Real Estate guitarist Matthew Mondanile, has slowly been winning me over since the release of
Ducktails III: Arcade Dynamics back in January. Given my lukewarm appreciation of Real Estate, I was surprised how much I've been digging on Mondanile's Woodsist debut. One reason may be that the sounds are all warm and lo-fi homemade concoctions, which remind me of my own experiences playing around with a flanger pedal and an 8-track in my parent's basement. But there's also something vibrant and sunny about these songs, none more so than "Hamilton Road." While Mondanile's low even-tempered singing voice here as me thinking Kurt Vile, the lyrics and bright acoustic guitar riffs leave me recalling
American Beauty-era Grateful Dead—and that's a beautiful carefree spot to be. "We sit by the water," he sings, "and feel the ripples of the tide." Jerry reborn? Maybe not, but the video for "Hamilton Road" couldn't capture the track's mood any better: just a couple of friends having a genuine good time, undisturbed by the mess of the outside world.
