Reviews

Either I've been playing way too much Guitar Hero, or Sequoia can write some really catchy riffs that make me want to pick up a guitar (real, plastic, or air) and play along…or maybe it's both.
 
An indie rock outfit from Chicago, Sequoia's first full-length shows a band with a lot of potential. Most of the tunes on Monday Morning have a repetitious simplicity to them, but really, so do many of the rock classics when you think about it. And like those rock classics the drums pound away with a steady, driving beat, while the guitars keep your attention with memorable licks. The lyrics simply deal with life, as the band likes to note, and the vocals have a laid back feel to them that makes the album a relaxing listen.
 
The negative to that is that Monday Morning is sometimes too relaxing of—and to a degree, almost monotonous—a listen. After multiple plays, it becomes apparent that it's the instrumental songwriting and not necessarily the vocals that are the outstanding points of this album. The styles of songs vary quite a bit—with a track like "Confederate Soldier" giving the album something different and special—but the vocals remain fairly static throughout. It's not that the performance delivered isn't a good one; it is. It's simply that the same great performance reiterated can still get tiring after awhile. This, combined with the fact that the songs are all very similar in speed, plus "Gremlin," which almost comes to a halt near the end of the album, really hurts Monday Morning. There are also a few songs near the end of the effort that would have sounded great with a faster, punk treatment, which would have also given the album some diversity.
 
It's a shame, though, because the songs are otherwise well written and Monday Mourning is a pleasure to take in. The repetition is just guaranteed to get to some after awhile. The repetition is just guaranteed to get to some after awhile. The repetition is just guaranteed to get to some after awhile. Sorry, gimmicky, I know, but now you get the point.
 
Overall, there's a lot of worthwhile music produced on Monday Morning by this three-piece. The guitars especially create some very memorable songs but the otherwise monotonous feeling of it might cause some to want to put these tracks in a mix, appreciating them more on their own instead of in the album format, which can bring attention to their similarities.