Review: Lunch Money

The two albums from Lunch Money slipped quietly onto the shelves at Monkeytail and Wellington a couple of months back and I've been dying to come back and write about them in a way that will do them justice.

With currently two albums up their sleeves and a third (Original Friend) on it's way, these guys are busy little bees. With tour dates booked all over the place for May and June, not to mention they hosted the children’s film series at the Nickelodeon Theatre (Columbia, SC’s art house cinema) which began in early April.

And it's no wonder they are in such high demand. Silly Reflection and Dizzy are both published under their own label Squirrel Mechanic Records. Between the three members, they are a music making dynamo. Lead singer Molly Ledford also writes and produces all their music and plays guitar. Jay Barry is on drums and vocals, and he also engineers and mixes the albums and JP Stephens who is on bass, vocals, mandolin, harmonica and whistling is also the bands official photographer!

To me, the beauty of Lunch Money comes from two things and both I'm attributing to Molly. For one, her songs are more complicated than your average kids song, they aren't the usual nursery rhyme rewrite in kindy rock clothing. For one, she loves a good simile. But she sings in a clear and true voice a making her lyrics easy to follow which is very important if you are a parent who is required to recall lyrics during a kiddie pop quiz (more on that later).

The second essence is in her ability to relate to children in her lyrics. I liken it to having a conversation with a child, Molly is down on her knee, eye to eye, l having a conversation about something silly and abstract to get a giggle. It's not very eloquent the way I'm painting the picture, but I hope you get my drift.

The second album Dizzy is definitely a poppier album over Silly Reflection. Dizzy has more of an instrumental backing, where Silly Reflection has a much quieter musical background with more of an emphasis on trumpets, finger snaps and clapping punctuating the lyrics. Both are exactly as kids albums should be. Clever lyrics about everyday kid stuff like tricycles, riding roller coasters and cookies as big as your head with a funky back beat.

The two Lunch Money albums are currently available here from Monkeytail and Wellington.


Win a copy of both Lunch Money albums Silly Reflection and Dizzy...

I have one copy of each album to give away to one lucky winner. Send me an email (vicki@monkeytailandwellington.com.au with the title Lunch Money Giveaway) and tell me which album the song Roller Coaster appears on. I'll randomly draw a winner from all the correct entries and let you know next Tuesday (May 11th) who has won.

Here's a live performance of Cookie As Big As My Head from Lunch Money at Summer on Southport 28 July 2007 courtesty of Gooney Bird Kids