Monsters Of Folk

by Monsters Of Folk

Supergroups are curiously back in vogue, and not only because Jack White has both a sizeable contact list and a restless disposition. Ahead of the rock colussus Them Crooked Vultures, come Monsters of Folk, a collaboration between Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis (of Bright Eyes), Jim James (of My Morning Jacket and Yim Yames) and Matthew Ward (of, er, M Ward).

Such is the veneration awarded to their previous work by alt-rock hacks, this quartet would be a joke-in-waiting for The Onion if they hadn't got their first with their self-deprecating moniker. And they're far from Woody Guthrie when they kick things off with 'Dear God (Sincerely M.O.F.)', a glorious slice of bleached 70s soul, like The Carpenters re-interpreting What's Going On. Closer to the end, beguiling moments come from M Ward's wistfully melancholic 'The Sandman, The Brakeman And Me' and Jim James' atmospheric sermon 'Slow Down Jo'.

In between, the album settles in to a comfortable country groove, albeit one that sounds like it was being captured by that 70s icon Jeff Lynne. And it's only a short-step from that realisation to the conclusion that Monsters of Folk are the Traveling Wilburys for the MP3 generation, most obvious when 'Yes Please' revives the spirit of George Harrison.

This makes for a less challenging collection of songs than the CVs of those involved might suggest. But it's a coherent and engaging piece of work nevertheless, with sublime peaks and charisma to spare, and this is one supergroup for whom we we don't have to compromise the term with ironic quotes.