K.Flay finds solace in chaos on MONO

In visceral turns of phrase, Flay details how easy it is to fall victim to masochistic, self-imposed narratives of ourselves. But in true unapologetic fashion, she transmutes it all into a confident manifesto of acceptance on MONO, her fifth studio-release.

In the Limp Bizkit-esque opener, “Are You Serious?,” Flay details her anger with sudden sensorineural hearing loss and tempers it with the realization that to complain is useless, as “…everyone’s in a cage” and she’s “just a drop in a bucket of rage.” She continues to explore other frustrations: “Yes, I’m Serious” finds Flay rapping about addiction with scathing honesty, all set within an acute awareness of her privileges growing up in a white, middle class family in Chicago. She raps, “I kept hollowing out, but see, I was the vulture / kept losing myself, but see, I’m the abductor / kept chasing the pain, feeding the ulcer,” only now, she sees such pain as an opportunity for growth.

Other tracks find Flay at her most vulnerable while in love: whether feeling betrayed and heartbroken, crooning over spare piano in the ballad, “Hustler,” or jaded and making sense of that betrayal on the dreamy, indie-rock of “Chaos is Love,” Flay continues to surprise us with rich images amidst painful memories cast in a unflinching light.

MONO defies singular labels, filled with K.Flay’s signature, eclectic blend of rap, indie rock, and pop-punk; yet this new effort sometimes seems more like a mixed bag than a cohesive statement. The darker, industrial sounds on standout tracks “Raw Raw,” “Punisher,” and “Irish Goodbye” – which harken back to the work of bands like Limp Bizkit, Nine Inch Nails, and Linkin Park – stand in stark contrast to her previous work. Such tracks showcase K.Flay’s willingness expand her palette, but halfway through the album, she loses sight of those landscapes, and they become a missed opportunity for Flay to excavate an exciting, nu-metal, industrial rock direction.

However, Flay resists the urge to let her recent, nightmarish hearing diagnosis or any one sound solely define her new work, creating an album that is anything but monochromatic. Instead, she delves inward and shares a multitude of stories about the chaos of desire, self-sabotage, acceptance, and ultimately, the feeling of redemption threaded through it all.