Desert Island Disc

Review By KRISTIN WALD

With summer quickly becoming a memory, families may want to find ways to hang on to the beachy fun of hazy days before they fade completely. Recess Monkey’s latest offering, “Desert Island Disc,” will keep kids and their parents warm and fuzzy as the colder weather arrives. With fourteen fun and silly songs, this album will definitely be on many family short lists of what to take along when marooned on an island, or in a car, or during a long, cold winter.

The album’s setting is a remote, isolated island, and the concept is that the members of Recess Monkey had to use what they had to make their music. This experimental and creative attitude comes through in the songs without feeling forced. The percussion really sounds like it might include a coconut, and the ukulele emphasizes the island emphasis.

It’s really the catchy song lyrics and hip but goofy vocals that will keep the kids (and their adults) coming back for more. My kids loved “Tallest Tree” for its backyard adventure storytelling and “The Cave” for its wacky, spooky effects – as well as its back-and-forth with two very different characters. My favorite songs are “The Hermit” and “Pearls of Wisdom.”  The former is about a hermit crab finding a new shell and some friends to conga with down the beach. The bongos and jumpy tune was our favorite to dance to. The latter is a clever take on taking idioms literally.

Parents will appreciate the kid-friendly lyrics as well as the grown-up talent and variety of the songs in Desert Island Disc. It’s definitely a fun, likable by young-at-heart adults, album. Kids will be singing along, and the melodies will be sure to get them moving and asking to keep the album handy for slow days and wintry weekends.

“Desert Island Disc” arrives on October 15th, 2013.

Kristin received a review copy of this CD.