Almost Monday’s Sep. 9 album, THANK GOD IT’S ALMOST MONDAY, channels tough times into an energetic, indie-style summer send-off full of funk sensibilities and sonic allusions to brighter things.
This 13-track sophomore album follows their 2024 debut, Dive; the indie-pop trio have said “We made this during the best and worst year of our lives.”
“Thank God It’s Almost Monday” serves as a slow-building instrumental transition from pre-listen silence to happy-sad sentiments. It carries an old-school hip-hop flow, conveyed with brassy horns, spoken ad-libs, and a funk bassline from Luke Fabry.
These horns and ambient sounds endure on “Delicate” and help centre vocalist Dawson Daugherty’s lines.
Daugherty’s charismatic, talk-singing style makes the track’s chorus catchy; humorous lines suggest that a girl’s flair and attitude make the perspective holder feel fragile in a weak-in-the-knees way. Alternating shouts of “celibate” and “delicate” also cement that smitten awkwardness.
The bounciness of “Delicate” is brought into “Class A” and placed over a strong percussion mix. Electronic, whistle-like sounds and rich harmonies add intrigue to simple yet impactful lyricism.
The lyrics give the title a metaphorical double meaning, contributing a slight cleverness that makes the track shine.
Lines like “she was running through my veins like a drug” suggest the love interest acts like a Class A drug, the most lethal categorisation. Simultaneously, the lyrics describe a woman with a strong, sophisticated personality, and the title can be interpreted as “class-ay.”
Compared to “Class A,” “No More Regrets” leans more into technical skill and delivering quippy fun over lyrical form. Cole Clisby supplies short, dry guitar punches that dominate the track until the bridge takes on a Daft Punk-like electronic palette.
Above the muted, atmospheric sounds of chatter, Daugherty sings of riding a “sonic rollercoaster,” being taken over by music, and needing some “physical exposure.”
At this point, and slightly to its detriment, the album has minimal key variation, but “Superprism” sweeps in to switch things up.
Simple, funky guitar lines and keyboard phrases dominate the instrumentation. Outside of its straightforward snappy-clappy rhythm, the song is packed with musical flourishes.
The band’s vocals make “Superprism” soar even more; Daugherty’s pitched-up vocals register like a persistent falsetto, often alternating with spoken repetitions in an extremely precise manner.
Almost Monday continues to offer their sharpest musical skills on “Fade.”
The sonically supernatural ballad feels wholeheartedly electronic, yet highly indie-inspired and full of gritty guitar.
Daugherty’s falsetto-forward vocals are at their best in this song when soft and echoing, while other vocal moments need reining in. A later explosion of electric guitar from Clisby tops off this overall strong mid-album song.
The band fully leans back into their indie side and the album’s overall ambient and emotion-driven sound on “Losing Streak.”
Smooth vocals, light and resonant guitar, and steel pedal simultaneously carry the song and sabotage its more faint, varied, and complex instrumental moments.
The track’s backing vocals are impressive, but not powerful enough to ensure that this already explored sound will hold its own outside of the album.
“Leaving Is Easy” takes a louder yet more acoustic approach to indie rock, complete with marimba and Fabry’s bouncy bass. It has a rock sound that feels too familiar at times, closely resembling The Beatles or Fleetwood Mac in style.
Lyrics like “every time I hit the bottom, I find another trapdoor to fall right through” makes this track effective at conveying the album’s thematic happy sadness.
While this song contains some impressive tempo and style switches, certain elements sound erratic; sometimes, all the music abruptly pauses for a brief marimba phrase, or the transition between tempos doesn’t feel gradual enough.
“Buzz” retains a similar 70s rock feel; the guitar and vocal lines sit on top of light strings and tight harmonies. The track feels well balanced even after its electronic elements come in; these looped, short vocal phrases and reverberating xylophone-like moments feel the most like the band’s style.
“Skinny Dip” transcends the 70s nature of “Buzz” through its timeless, coming-of-age movie soundtrack feel.
The guitar anchors super high notes and moments of chanting; these vocals share vivid, nostalgia-grounded lyrics, which describe sneakily going skinny-dipping and feeling romance-fueled adrenaline like an “electric shock.”
“Skinny Dip” feels as electric as the imagery it produces, and “Enjoy the Ride” transforms that energy into pure, rose-colored optimism. Daugherty’s falsetto is in full effect, working with a driving bassline to really emphasise a “fake it ‘til you make it” energy.
This somewhat recycled song thrives solely on its intense, upbeat mood, forcefully making the listener take in its faux positivity through grating, high-pitched repetitions of “la la.”
This energy persists on “French Kids” through a disco-techno club sound. The song’s rhythm and melodic cadence make it skillful, juxtaposing its unserious mentions of French-seeming things.
This song’s chorus contains the most impressive vocal technique yet. Daugherty preserves a series of popping, crisp staccato syllables and an intricate cadence with immense precision.
The album ends with “Better Late Than Never,” a good-spirited, danceable track with stunning synth and percussion. It maintains the whole album’s clarity, brightness, and warmth while exuding a new type of up-tempo, summery energy.
Each member contributes showy musical phrases in a grand-finale fashion, making this song an ideal live show closer.
Almost Monday’s members evidently put their all into THANK GOD IT’S ALMOST MONDAY, offering bold musicality and exploring their capabilities while honing their style.
Clean vocals, emotive lyrics, and genre-defying instrumental moments come across brilliantly, but it feels like the band is clinging to the safest parts of their sound. As a result, there’s a hint of same-song syndrome across the album’s tracks, and listeners need to sift through it to find its substantial gems.
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