The name might make you think hipster electronica, or even headbanging edginess with all the subtleties of using a hammer to enter a building, but Brighton’s Monsters Build Mean Robots are far more inventive than that. WeShouldHaveDestroyedOurGeneralsNotTheirEnemies (breath) is a nuanced, delicate piece of songwriting that focuses on texture and toned-down atmospherics at the expense of a ‘higher’ lyrical purpose. In fact, the use of orchestral instrumentation and a sense of the musical allure of silence make this EP a piece perfectly suited to entrancing natural scenes: the crashing of the tides, the slow fall of leaves from an autumnal tree or one of those epic migratory scenes that make use of near-total silence to build to a truly colossal crescendo.
Lyrically, Monsters Build Mean Robots are not so much minimalist as instrumental. The vocals are just another layer in an intricate twisting of implements that meld together in a lazy Sunday afternoon of swirling mellowness. The sheer length and intricacy of tracks alludes to a love of Icelandic superstars Sigur Ros, yet Monsters Build Mean Robots seem to have more of a rock undertow, with their crescendos more rhythmic and their note-every-three seconds mid-sections more sparse than the popular islanders. ‘A Reverie for the Roots’ is perhaps as close as they get to a genuine pop song, though it still revels in a hugely slow-building intro, only really popping into radio play territory for perhaps two minutes in the middle of a nine minute epic.
Of course, radio play is rarely something we buy an album looking for, and while this particular EP is more likely to grace the beautiful, meaningful moments in life than become an everyday listen, the group’s ability to meld contrast and clever instrumentation produces an instantly memorable style that’s nothing if not touching. Even at five-track EP length, it’s worthy of lying back, soaking up and drifting until the peak kicks in, as long as you don’t have musical ADD. While the occasional abrupt change can break the record’s flow, all the right elements are in place. Let’s hope they have the range to flaunt this level of performance on the up and coming full length.