Lockdown created different experiences for all of us, and for Slaves’ frontman Isaac Holman, it was a time where he moved back with his parents, took a step away from music, and reset from a severe mental breakdown. His foray back into music, under the new pseudonym of Baby Dave, has been understated with a handful of singles over the past 9 months. But finally an album has dropped and everything clicks into place.
A complete U-turn from the sound of Slaves, Monkey Brain may lack the immediate punch and grit that Holman’s music has been known for but it makes up for this with the honesty that is weaved into every track, even if that is sometimes bordering on the absurd. There isn’t a need for any high concept metaphors, double meaning, or obscure imagery; Monkey Brain is plain, straightforward, and pure, and the whole album benefits from this approach to song writing.
Just from the opener ‘I Love Gardening’, a 49-second cut of Holman’s fans explaining their love for gardening, a hobby that he took up in his hiatus from music, the angle of the album becomes apparent. It’s a direct insight into the mind of Holman, and feels more like a diary, recounting personal experiences and opening the door to his life since Slaves.
The singles released pre-album are the high points of the album: ‘29’ shows a return to Holman’s rap roots with a song put together on a bus journey whilst ‘Washing Machine’ provides a simple bassline, keyboard, drum machine driven into the mind someone with OCD, with which Holman suffers. The forwardness with which he approaches the subject is refreshing and doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to the feelings of these compulsions.
Monkey Brain can sometimes sound like its songs are being played on a Casio keyboard and that’s because, well, they are. It creates a weird nostalgic feel throughout the album that I can’t quite explain. Co-production from Damon Albarn adds a lot of depth in instrumentation to the majority of the album and saves them from feeling amateurish and instead they feel relaxed, uncomplicated and stripped back.
On the whole, Monkey Brain is a stellar debut for Baby Dave. It’s unapologetically odd, with subject matter ranging from mental health, odes to friends, and ‘Clarence’s Dead Dad’, and this makes the whole album feel even more personal. It reveals a whole other side, both musically and characteristically, to Isaac Holman, just as Slaves partner Laurie Vincent’s Larry Pink The Human project did for him. It doesn’t take itself too seriously and is occasionally beautifully whimsical. Holman has poured his soul into this project, and the results are wonderful.
Rating: 4/5