As earlier write-ups made clear, we have been more than happy with Peter Bothum’s output as Brother of Monday so far. Still, he claims World of Hair is the first time he feels “every chord and lyric is exactly how I wanted it to be,” which says a lot “given how far this thing colors way outside the lines.”

And yes, this is outsider music. The home-recorded kind. If you like Yuasa-Exide, you will probably click with Brother of Monday. Not because they sound exactly alike, but because they operate in that same niche of niches where lo-fi and loud happily coexist, where dissonance is part of the appeal, and where whatever gear is within reach becomes part of the process.

World of Hair opens with Andy, a song tied to the previous owner of one of Bothum’s amps, who later took his own life. Knowing that adds weight to a track that already hits hard. As the record unfolds, more songs carry that same kind of unfiltered realness. Nothing feels dressed up.

You can throw around names like Guided By Voices, R.E.M., or Neutral Milk Hotel, but that only gets you halfway there. This is more singular than that. Best move is to step into it yourself. This indeed is the best version of Brother of Monday yet!

World of Hair is available on CD via Wilbur & Moore.

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