Ducktails – The Flower Lane

Ducktails – The Flower Lane (Domino)

Real Estate guitarist Matthew Mondanile’s Ducktails side project started out solo and sounding pretty chillwavey but has gradually become poppier and more refined. His fourth full-length was written collaboratively with Big Troubles and features Oneohtrix Point Never’s Daniel Lopatin, Joel Ford of Ford & Lopatin/Airbird, Madeline Follin of Cults, members of Big Troubles, Real Estate’s Martin Courtney, and others. Given all the additional personnel, it’s unsurprising that The Flower Lane is more varied than his earlier work. Although the guitar wizardry listeners can always count on Mondanile to deliver is on display here, the overall vibe is so loungey and slick, I wonder if he’s sneaked a peek into the playbook of fellow former chillwaver, Toro y Moi.

by Carly Blair