Mad Mackerel included The River Monks’ single “Beasts” in its Easter Round-Up!

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The Bluegrass Situation features The River Monk’s new single “Beasts” as Song of the Week:

Home Is the House, the Monks’ latest album, is a pensive, slow-rolling think piece on middle America. Especially “Beasts,” the banjo-driven single, full of gorgeous five-part harmonies, and river town mysticism. In this day and age, I’d like to think that bands like The River Monks can cut through the coastal clatter, and pave a way for other Iowan artists on a national level.

Read the whole review and download the track from The Bluegrass Situation!

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Hear Nebraska features an interview with The River Monks in advance of their tour stops in Lincoln and Omaha. Find out about the band’s recitative lyrical style, “the foggy, terraced hills of China” adorning their forthcoming album cover, and their unique recording process. Read the interview here!

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Currentland previews The River Monks’ show in Tulsa at Soundpony!

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Larryville Chronicles interviews The River Monks about ukes, whistling, and the wealthiest city in America, in advance of their Lawrence show at Jackpot Music Hall!

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The Columbia Daily Tribune features The River Monks in advance of their tour stop on Sunday March 23rd:

Try not to fall hard for The River Monks. There is a sweet and sure romanticism to the folk music the Des Moines, Iowa, sextet fashions. In it, one detects the gentle spinning of the planet and gradual turning of each season. It’s not beyond imagination to think its music could serve as a soundtrack for kissing underneath a quiet galaxy of Christmas lights or to hear an approximation of how it feels to run with spring’s first blades of grass between your toes. Certain songs sound like filling the lungs with last gasps of late-summer air before the inevitable chill; others could complement scenes seen on a Sunday drive past fields of fallen leaves.

Read the whole article here!

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Des Moines Cityview recently caught up with The River Monks prior to kicking off a two-week tour celebrating the release of “Beasts,” the first single from their forthcoming album Home Is The House, out on May 20th.

“It’s about the subject of ‘home’ and what it means to all of us, both individually and as a band,” Stier explained. “We’ve all moved from one place to another, so really the album is kind of an exploration of what ‘home’ means to all of us. I don’t think there’s one answer.”

Whatever topic The River Monks is exploring at a given time, the band’s distinctively textual, unconventional sound is mainly the product of its songwriters. Stier and guitar/vox/uke man Nick Frampton handle most of the lyrical duties, but The River Monks has always been a bit more co-op than that.

“Everyone brings their own personality in the band,” Stier said. “Everyone’s a great musician, so Nick and I both definitely invite everyone to come put their mark on each song. No song is exactly as I pictured it when we’re done.”

The band released its first single from the album, “Beasts,” for free on Bandcamp, and now the group is gearing up for a two-week Midwest tour in support of the album’s impending release. But wherever The River Monks go, the musicians are always thinking about home.

Read the whole interview here!

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