My Famous Mistake - Monuments To Mileage

My Famous Mistake

Monuments To Mileage 
self-released; 2014

3.5 out of 5

By Ethan Skelton

My Famous Mistake comes to us Minneapolis bred and born on the rock n’ roll styling of Bruce Springsteen and the aspiring American hero. The lyrics are anecdotal and tell stories set to a collection of songs that find their zenith through a mix of emotional drive and steadfast instrumentation. Monuments To Mileage prides itself on not sounding dated and instead sounding organic and more truthful in the process. 

The recording process was conditioned to allow for a final sound that would be free from all the modern polish that today’s rock acts utilize. In this case, they let the quality speak for itself, raw and undisturbed. Typically, this starts the conversation about production value and I’ve seen the “raw” style go down in flames more than I will admit. Thankfully, these guys have their game cranked high enough to escape unscathed when issuing an end product that is so vulnerable and mildly edited.

It was recorded over a three-month period in weekly sessions that worked around locking in one song and completing it before moving to the next. This is unconventional method but effective especially when timeline isn’t an issue and the members involved don’t necessarily embrace musical multi-tasking. Most often, bands will be pressured to track and get done so multiple tracks are simultaneously being analyzed, revised and recorded. You can tell My Famous Mistake’s level of attention was comfortable and paced on this record, however that doesn’t guarantee a solid album, of course. It takes much more than that – do these guys stack up?

The answer is yes, mostly. “The Kids Like Us” is a great song and the strongest single-worthy cut. It feels like a memoir of the golden years this band shared on the journey of being in a band. From bumming around record stores to playing their favorite songs over the car stereo, it’s clear that the times when they weren’t playing may just as cherished if not more. The tracks that follow have their place but failed to leave a lasting impression. The structures just didn’t have the same sensory pleasure that came from the bond and brotherhood on “The Kids Like Us.” Every track is worth some time and interpretation so you be the judge and see if one of these hits you differently. That’s what’s great about music – subjection.

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