The new album from Nick Jaina, The Monster Mash showcases a spacious guitar-led sound that melodically frames lyrics exploring self-reflection, personal fragmentation, and the beauty of embracing a life that’s offbeat from societal conventions. Across the record, Jaina balances playful nostalgia with introspective moments, capturing both the thrill of youthful abandon and the longing for connection and wholeness, all while wrapping it in delicate organs, twangy guitar lines, and subtly intricate arrangements.
Album opener “Strange Undertaking” exudes an introspective lyrical charm amidst tender guitars and a faint backing organ. The track conjures imagery of an overactive mind and stumbling body, striving to bring together a fragmented self into something whole. “My head is always one step ahead, it’s always trying to hang the painting before it’s been painted,” Jaina sings to open, remarking later: “My feet are always several feet behind, they’re always tripping.” It’s an impactful reflection on vulnerability and a sense of disconnect, though not an admonishment of such; the album ultimately celebrates not being in precise lockstep with conventionality, and “Strange Undertaking” does well in portraying those feelings of not quite fitting in.
The ensuing “Behave” soothes in its twangy guitars and light piano, playing like a rumination on societal expectations as Jaina sings “what they think is poison keeps me from my grave,” — while providing warming reassurances of “I will keep you safe,” in its balancing between those expectations and the desire to protect someone else. “We Know the Monster Mash” then arrives with impactful heart, infusing starry-eyed nostalgia in looking back on a freer time when he “used to monster mash.” Jaina’s voice rises with striking emotion into the “I used to dance” refrain, as solemn organs swell beneath prancing guitar twangs, before giving way to a spacious break of twangy guitars and soft acoustic strums. It’s a standout piece of songwriting that captures both the joy of youthful abandon, and the ache of knowing it can’t fully return.
While “We Know the Monster Mash” consumes in exploring a past long gone, the excellent “Today Is Not Like Other Days” offers brighter reassurances on changes to come, and the power of one to put that into motion. “Anything can change, because today is not like other days,” Jaina sings at the track’s conclusion, again stirring in its mellow guitar work and vocal contemplations on the personal ability to inspire both dark and light. “The City of Spare Parts” is a moving success as well, weaving burgeoning guitar jangles and solemn keys as lyrics yearn for another to “mend me with your loving stitch” and arise a damaged heart from rubble. “This is a place for broken hearts, this is the city of spare parts,” Jaina concludes, feeling like a continuation of “Strange Undertaking” in its poetic reflections on a fragmented self.
The Monster Mash concludes with an especially strong one-two punch in “Bad Dreams” and “A Place for All Of Us.” The former laments that “my life has been out of control” as forlorn acoustics and glimmering organs craft an aesthetic fondly reminiscent of Timber Timbre. “Bad dreams have been chasing me,” Jaina continues, with a deeper tonal shift and lyrical emotion capturing a personal state of flux. Album finale “A Place for All Of Us” enthralls in its twinkling keys and slight percussion, with a hopeful “I think we found a place for all of us” vocal opening feeling cathartic in its arrival after soul-searching. “Call if you ever need anything, we trust you,” the warm reassurances continue, concluding the album with melodic lushness and sensations of personal peace following tumult. Abundant in quality songwriting, The Monster Mash is a resonating overall success from Nick Jaina.
