My Own Money - Dark As A Dungeon

We’re diving into a little bit of synthpop today with My Own Money, or as I’ve been calling them as an acronym M.O.M. Not sure if this was intentional or not but I’m rolling with it and I hope that if they become huge in their own right, it catches on. Anyway, M.O.M. has been creating music since 2019 fusing synthpop and dance rock, citing the likes of Depeche Mode, Eurythmics, and New Order as influences whilst newcomers such as Metric, Charli XCX, and more stand as their contemporaries. M.O.M. has even stated that lead singer Cali Platek has been compared to Blondie, which is a high enough honor on its own. And they’ve a brand-new single for us to check out titled ‘Dark As A Dungeon’. It's a little rough, needs some work, but there’s a fuck-ton of potential in this band that’s begging to be explored. 

So, let’s tackle the vocals first. I do think that lead singer Platek has a decent voice which mainly shines during the verse. I didn’t think of Blondie the first time I heard her voice; rather, my head went on over to the likes of Desire or the Chromatics. The low-profile vocals, the confidence in her voice, and the almost femme fatale way she presents herself on the track is solid. The reason why I say her voice shines to well during the verse is because it has a good mix during those moments; however, as soon as we get to the chorus the music becomes a bit loud. And that’s when her voice becomes buried in the mix behind squealing synths and heavy bass notes. A bit of a shame, too. 

The music itself is…A bit above average. As mentioned above, the chorus is extremely sloppy and doesn’t come out the best. The squealing synths are a major part of that; it sounds raw and unfinished in a sense, as if the producers didn’t know what to throw in the background so they just did that. However, the beat is decent during the verse; it’s a minimal club beat that makes my head bob with certain parts of the song giving us nothing more than bass and vocals. There’s a pretty cool improvised jam section that occurs around the three-minute and forty-some second mark as well; sounds like something that you’d find right out of a free jazz troupe. 

Overall M.O.M. has the roots for a solid song here. A few mistakes truly hold it back from greatness, but I can see them continue to grow over time.