Chelsea Monet: MOODY EP
Chelsea Monet has been on the music scene since 2009, and hasn’t stopped since!
I had the pleasure of viewing a live performance in East Los Angeles by Chelsea Monet, alongside Sema and Xia Gemini in 2017.
After hearing that Monet was coming out with a new EP that they produced themselves, I was honored at the chance to review their brand new project, Moody.
Let’s get into these funky, wavy, groovy, and may I add, dance-able instrumentals created by none other Monet herself.
“hotsauce”: Chelsea hits you hard with a hypnotizing singing-bowl-like looping effect, that mingles with electric piano, high-hats, and lovely hint of string instruments. Let’s not forget that heavy bass you can hear and feel throughout your body.
“1 Thang” is a track I automatically felt in my feet! The fast-paced, heavy hitting drums, is the appetizer for the electric keyboard melody. Dreamily matched with a digital sequence pattern that continues to build onto of one another, serving you a delicious multi-course meal of musical delight. Something quite signature, is the yelp, yell, or scream that is intermediately placed into the track. It’s haunting or spiritual, to a listener’s ear. Definitely one of my favorite tracks.
“un-cold”: A nice switch, acoustic guitar, then a rewind of guitar is played while it is accompanied by a powerful kick and a ripple of bass. Drums are introduced onto the sympathy of sound, acoustic guitar is reintroduced as it’s natural form, while violin sings back up as the song fades out. This tracks takes you on a musical ride, will you let it sway you?
“feels-ILLEGAL” is the first track that involves spoken word in the track. The listener is greeted with electric keyboard, with a man’s voice. In conversation with another man, he states:
“That gotta make you feel good”
“Feels so good that it’s gotta be illegal”
The man protests, laughs, and the instrumental carries on without them.
If you’re a fan of Pictureplane or Arca, this song definitely brings in witch house vibes. Money seems to split this track into two. A vibe change occurs during the last minute of the song. We are swept into a groovy bass guitar. As if we are now on the beach watching the sunset. Chelsea comments that this EP was inspired by sounds such as 2000s Dilla and modern lo-fi sound with a west coast slap.
“Get UPS”: Droplets of keyboard greets you, the kicks and soulful mantra of “get down” slaps and beats you into a groove. This track is another favorite from the project. There are multiple moods drifting through on sound waves, that marry well together. I am inspired to dance, bob my head. Share my hips, tap my foot, and drift into musical bliss.
Moody takes you for a ride of soulful bliss with an array of vibrations. Monet states, “The inspiration for this project is a mix of my experience as a black queer woman and fighting the stigma of having ‘an attitude’ or being ‘rude/moody’…its like nature vs nurture. Each track is a different mood a different day in my life.”
Stay tuned to Monet’s tunes:
