- Nick Monaco has been referred to as Soul Clap's "secret weapon." That's probably because the San Francisco producer has a secret weapon of his own: a velvety voice he's slid over singles like The Stalker for Soul Clap Records. That's not the only thing that sets him apart from his Crew Love compadres: Monaco also likes lurid butterfly robes and designing his own lipstick. The oddest thing about his debut album, though, isn't his flamboyance, but his reluctance to get that secret weapon out.
Apart from a few wordless coos, Monaco's voice hardly appears on the opening title track, though "Mating Call" does introduce another of the album's distinguishing features: sun-bleached guitars. His vocals have faint shades of Prince when he takes to the mic on "Babyface," but as he sings "Do you love me?" he sounds not so much androgynous as strangely sexless. Duetting with Brandon Cain on "Ancient Ritual," the pair sound like an all-male Americana-tinged version of The xx as their voices intertwine over spectral guitars.
The closest Monaco gets to being in your face is when he starts yelping "I'm Jesus!" on "I Can't Breathe Without You," before wandering into a weird monologue about "indigo palaces," backed by the sort of luxuriantly creamy house Soul Clap love to milk. Alongside "She Got That Fire"'s tale of a party girl's nocturnal journeys, these are the album's only songs in a traditional sense—more often than not, Monaco uses his voice to simply repeat refrains. That's not to say he doesn't have fun with it, floating through downtempo stoner hip-hop on "TooHighToDrive," layering his hums and growls on "Private Practice" or propelling the most dance floor-friendly track, "Freak Flag."
Still, just because Monaco seems coy about flexing his larynx doesn't mean Mating Call is an uptight album. One of its main joys is the loose rhythms of tracks like "Maintenance Man," with its vaguely African skank, or the way the spaghetti Western dub of "She's Got That Fire" stumbles along as blearily as its protagonist. And yet, while it feels odd to say this about a man who's posted nude yoga photos on the internet, Mating Call makes you think Nick Monaco should expose himself a bit more.
Tracklist01. Mating Call
02. BabyFace
03. Ancient Ritual feat. Brandon Cain
04. Private Practice
05. I Can't Breathe Without You
06. Brooklyn Is A Submarine feat. Slow Hands
07. Maintenance Man
08. TooHighToDrive
09. She Got That Fire
10. Freak Flag