Monument: Decades

You usually remember songs for two reasons: either because they’re extraordinarily good, or eye-gougingly bad. New York’s Monument are neither — they can be found somewhere between Coldplay and coma-like boredom. Their debut album, Decades, is one of those rare albums that you forget about the second that it’s done. The album has hooks and choruses and lyrics that would make Bono blush in embarrassment, but none of it sticks. It should be noted that none of these songs are bad (by any means); they just have nothing special about them whatsoever. It’s mid-tempo Brit-rock slush that blurs together like scenery on a speeding bullet train. Rocker “Magnetic North” and closing ballad “Around Every Corner” barely lift themselves above the rest of this anonymous dirge, but even those songs have limited staying power. Some bands are accused of being watered-down versions of their big-name influences; if Monument continues at this rate, they’ll wind up being more water than band.