Magnet Magazine features The River Monks’ new single “I Am A Lake” as today’s MP3 at 3PM!

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Des Moines Cityview chose The River Monks’ album release show this Friday as Pick of the Week! Read the show preview here.

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Colorado Springs Independent interviews The River Monks in advance of their upcoming show at Ivywild School. Read the interview here!

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Des Moines Juice previews The River Monks album release show at Vaudeville Mews!

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Band Bombshell previews The River Monks’ album release show this Friday at Vaudeville Mews!

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Folk Radio UK features “I Am A Lake,” the new single from The River Monks!

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Largehearted Boy includes “I Am A Lake,” the second single from The River Monks’ forthcoming album Home Is The House, in today’s Daily Downloads!

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Faronheit includes the new one from The River Monks, “I Am A Lake,” in this week’s Pick Your Poison feature!

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Ghettoblaster Magazine calls The River Monks’ forthcoming album a “megafolk earworm sure to delight fans of thoughtful and provocative Americana.” Frontman Ryan Stier shared his thoughts about recording Home Is The House:

We live in several different states, so we had to go into recording overly prepared. I’d say ‘Wish The World Was Still Flat’ was a song I struggled with personally, letting myself settle with the arrangement…it turned out to be one of my favorite recordings on the record.

Read the entire interview here!

// The River Monks media page //

Americana UK reviews The River Monks’ forthcoming album Home Is The House, out May 20th:

…built around sweeping vocal harmonies building to a rich and at times haunting sound which makes you wonder if they are indeed the Fleet Foxes in disguise. These are a multi talented lot, all contributing to the vocals, multi – instrumentation and songwriting on this their second full length release comprising 12 songs in total.

Read the review here!

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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!

// The River Monks media page //