Mondo Cozmo Rocks His Way to Salvation in New Album, ‘It’s PRINCIPLE!’
If Bruce Springsteen’s freeing, heartland rock sound met beautifully apocalyptic and existential storytelling, the result would be Mondo Cozmo’s fourth album, It’s PRINCIPLE!
Josh Ostrander (Mondo Cozmo) for It's PRINCIPLE! Via Big Feat PR.
After spending time in the now-defunct band Eastern Conference Champions, couch surfing to prioritize building a successful solo career, and redirecting his creative process, Mondo Cozmo — born Josh Ostrander — has arrived at a new beginning. It’s PRINCIPLE! gracefully blends the themes of hope and despair while creating an enrapturing sonic experience.
Of the many unifying threads between tracks, the recurring use of powerful buildups not only supplies a constant sense of intensity throughout the album but also serves as a sonic representation of the rallying cry that Ostrander thematizes. With the help of producer Mark Rankin, Ostrander’s first producer after exclusively self-producing on past projects, he masters the art of building musical tension for a subsequent release of audible power.
Track six, “Sundown In The Age Of Fear,” is a prime example of an extremely thoughtful climax. The song first places listeners into a spacey ambiance before a piano enters, playing a chord progression that starts major but ends minor. As twinkling synth rhythms, dichotic guitar and piano riffs, and vocal harmonies slowly trickle into the mix, it becomes clear that “Sundown In The Age Of Fear” is one big, tension-accumulating buildup — until it finally relaxes. The last 20 seconds consist of only the piano chord progression and a swelling synth, creating a gentle yet menacing energy.
Watch the music video for "Killing Floor" on YouTube.
Other tracks like “Here I Am” and single “Killing Floor” utilize buildups to further lyrical themes. In “Here I Am,” Ostrander almost begs to be taken away by some higher power as he repeats “Receiver, here I am.” As the pleads get more desperate and more emotion creeps into his voice, the instrumentals and production grow in intensity, leading to a wall of sound in the last chorus.
Where “Here I Am” builds in angst, “Killing Floor” builds in acceptance. Although the main motif, “Everybody dies on the killing floor,” is morbid, to say the least, the double-time feel added by a hi-hat and the power-ballad nature of the bridge makes the song feel like finding light in the darkness.
Opening and title track “It’s PRINCIPLE!” on the other hand, delivers a sonic punch within the first ten seconds. The dissonant guitar lines and opening lyric, “So I’m slashing tires on Main Street America,” introduce the darker elements of the album.
As the record continues, Ostrander’s Springsteen influences shine through. Songs like “New Salvation” and “Leave A Light On” exude a sense of wistful nostalgia reminiscent of what you’d hear at the end of a coming-of-age movie. I’m talking about a protagonist running through a field after all their problems have been satisfyingly solved. Both tracks utilize clean guitar tones, energetic drum beats, and hopeful lyrics. If there is one line, however, that I think encapsulates the essence of the album, it would be from “New Salvation,” as Ostrander sings, “Peaceful in seismic times.”
Its PRINCIPLE! closes with the aptly named “I’ll Be Around.” Backed by a soft, omnipresent güiro and conga and raw backing vocals, Ostrander harnesses a gentler sound to end the record. In channeling the poetic vulnerability he does with lyrics like “If the hand of God refused to touch or reach for me, reach for me, I will be, I will be, I’ll be around,” Ostrander cements his place in the music industry as a force that is just getting started.