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Twelve Mondays

Ari Hest

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iTunes Review

After being released from his major label recording contract, Ari Hest spent a year on his 52 project where he wrote, recorded and released a new song each week for a year. The highlights from these efforts form the core of 2009’s Twelve Mondays where 12 fan favorites were re-recorded for this more manageable collection. Hest has a naturally warm voice and penchant for middle- of-the-road singer-songwriter fare. Whether he’s finding his way through a finger-picked folk tune (“The Weight”), a piano-drenched ballad (“Learn”) or a dramatic piece of pop (“Dead End Driving”), Hest sounds like a road-weary veteran who knows how to make the most of his talents. He never over-reaches. Where his previous major label releases emphasized a muscular rock tone meant to accentuate his pop side, Hest’s indie status allows him to explore abstract textures and subtler arrangements, and “Broken Voices” has a creeping, hallucinatory quality to its instrumental swoops and Hest’s electronically enhanced vocal track.

Customer Reviews

What a find at 1 am.

How is it I've never heard of Ari Hest before? Not only a good songwriter, but a voice that grabbed me instantly when I was checking out new releases early this morning. I've got to find out more information about this guy, I'm hooked.

Bravo!

This is Ari's best album to date. Hands down. I was a 52 member this year and loved getting a song a week from him for the last year. We all got to vote which songs would turn into this album and I couldn't be happier with what it turned out to be. These songs are re-worked and more robust than the original 52 versions and just feel GREAT! Standout tracks for me are: Cranberry Lake, Dead End Driving, Binoculars and The Weight. Bravo Ari! See you on tour!

Can an album be spectacular? Audicular?

I have always liked Ari Hest's albums - moderately - they were OK. This one is different - VERY different. Can sound be spectacular? Audicular? Whatever the word - Twelve Mondays is it. The album includes songs from Hest's personal (self produced and published) project titled 52, in which he released a new song every week for a year. All songs on this album are his fans' choices of "the best" of that collection. And THE BEST they truly are - it's not too often that one can honestly say that there are NO weak songs here. This is such an incredible qualitative (and quantitative!) improvement over the previous albums - everything is somehow new, fresh, and sounds emotionally sincere; from technical point of view, all elements of this albums are close to perfection (or just perfect). Hest's songs are beautifully crafted, his voice is now more mature, and has impressive dynamic range; gentle background-vocals' harmonies are used with restraint, and the record is outstandingly produced: even though it maintains a stylistic consistency, and to a certain degree his own "signature" sound, it's varied, and never gets boring, creating interesting soundscapes and arrangements on many songs. My personal favorites (although I like them all) are "Cranberry Lake," and the rhythmically spectacular "Binoculars," the gritty texture of which combined with syncopated rhythms, and colorful, textured background vocals showcases Hest's talents. It's gutsy for a singer/author to go back to "independent" after recording for a major label. In this case, it seems it was a carefully planned, and well thought out decision, backed up with creativity, tenacity, hard work, and LOTS of talent. I hope it is a new start for Ari Hest, on his own terms: a beginning of a great, long career.

Biography

Genre: Singer/Songwriter

Years Active: '00s, '10s

Ari Hest became interested in music while still a teenager growing up in the Bronx. Though he'd taken piano lessons as a child, he taught himself how to play the guitar, mostly by listening to records from his parents' collection (Paul Simon) and alternative radio (Pearl Jam, Dave Matthews). While studying at NYU, Hest hit the East Coast college circuit, performing a mix of covers and his own material. The exposure built him a respectable regional following, which he nurtured with self-released albums...
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