Well, today we woke up to a pretty great surprise indeed, didn’t we? Animals as Leaders dropped a stunning new single seemingly out of nowhere this morning, after months of teasing behind the scenes clips on social media.
“Monomyth” is a an agile, wiry beast, pacing itself between it’s meaty gallops, chunky refrains, eight-handed tap lord extravaganzas. It’s also got some of AAL’s most glorious production to date. Check out the video for “Monomyth” below, featuring some pretty ambitious and surreal choreography.
The instrumental tracks themselves as intricate as always, but it’s great to hear the melodic parts of the production share part the songwriting load. This is a tactic they employed heavily on their last album, Madness of Many, but it seems a little more balanced here. It sort of has the same freewheeling, ecstatic energy as Joy of Motion, considered by many to be a high note in the Animals as Leaders canon. If “Monomyth” is any indication, we are in for something tech-y, fresh, and fun.
It’s also just straight up ventured into territory that we feel comfortable covering. Normally, Animals as Leaders gets straight up metal, prog, or instrumental coverage – and they’re by no means lacking it. But the single seems to cement that Tosin Abasi and co are still capable of surprising people, math rock fans included. If you’re a fan of heavier math rock like Snooze and Alpha Male Tea Party or more cerebral stuff like Three Trapped Tigers or Strobes, and for some reason you’ve slept on AAL for the last twenty years… it’s time to get with it.