New Jersey-based Titus Andronicus takes an odd blend of influences from ’90s shoegaze, to Dinosaur Jr., to Hot Water Music, to early Alkaline Trio with a generous helping of rootsy Americana to make a simply stellar album. The Monitor opens with a Abraham Lincoln quote and lyrics referencing Bruce Springsteen and winds its way through songs both haunting and rabble-rousing at equal intervals. Opening track “A More Perfect Union” is stellar, despite its more than seven-minute run time. Usually long songs drag down a band’s sound and feels forced. Yet even though almost every track on The Monitor runs over five minutes in length and closes with a 14-minute epic, each song feels just about perfect in length. Nothing drags and the album works together as a stunning piece of beauty.
(XL Recordings, 304 Hudson Street, 7th Floor, New York, NY 10013)