Ducktails - Ducktails III: Arcade Dynamics

17 February, 2011
Written by Joel Stagg

On first listen, there seems to be something inherently brave/ill-advised about Matthew Mondanile, aka Ducktails, releasing an album like Ducktails III: Arcade Dynamics in February. The album seems tailor-made for summer – a collection of sunkissed, lilting pop-songs about being carefree and young, interspersed with hypnotic, ethereal instrumental jams that float in and out like thoughts on a sunny day. Even the titles - ‘Don’t Make Plans’, ‘Sunset Liner’, ‘Killin’ the Vibe’ – reinforce this. Listening on a rainy week in February, it may well have been a case of wrong place at the wrong time. Thankfully, time spent with Ducktails III reveals a lot more at play (and, on the morning that I wrote my review, the sun finally re-appeared.)

The album begins in particularly low-key fashion with ‘In the Spring’, an instrumental piece which nonetheless sets the blueprint for a lot of what will follow – pulsating, lo-fi drums and layered guitar parts interwoven into one. From here the songs evolve in a number of directions – trippy, psychedelic instrumental pieces like ‘The Razor’s Edge’, the gorgeously upbeat ‘Little Window’, and songs like ‘Hamilton Road’ and ‘Sunset Liner’ where Mondaline takes to the mic to deliver some of the records most effective summery pop moments. The lyrics fit the careless summer vibe to a tee, musing on treehouses, migrating birds and lines like “we sit by the water and feel the ripples of the tide, the ocean’s dancing with the shoreline and it’s waving bye” which might be hard to stomach if they didn’t fit the mood so aptly.

One of the highlights will invariably be ‘Killin’ the Vibe’, with the most memorable guitar riff and lyrical refrain of the album. A simple pop song, it’s repeated mantra of “Don’t go killin’, killing the vibe, I can’t take your lame style, can’t you just sit a while and try your hardest to smile” builds and builds with each inclusion, with Mondanile layering self-harmonies and instrumentation, the song gaining strides with each repetition. The bonus version featuring Panda Bear and Dent May is a similar aural delight, but even solely as a Ducktails song it holds it’s own. It also goes further, to summarise many of the albums core themes – nostalgia, retaining youth and holding on to something. “I don’t have plans to be a man,” he sings on ‘Don’t Make Plans’. Whilst the album might seem light listening on initial plays, there’s still a sense of light mournfulness underplaying everything, the wistfulness hard to separate from thoughts on youth and impermanence.

The album ends fittingly with ‘Porch Projector’. After an album of brevity and high points that transpire, ending with a saccharine ten-minute ambient guitar jam seems the perfect way to end, recalling the warm, cosy night at the end of a long summer’s day. There might be troubles on your mind, and the summer won’t last forever, but nobody is killin’ the vibe just yet.

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