Green Gorilla, Monster & Me

The fifth album from Ralph's World, Green Gorilla, Monster & Me, is every bit as fresh and fun as their first. Green Gorilla is delightfully all-over-the-place, spanning the activity song "Dance Around" as well as odes to "Monster," a far-from-monstrous terrier, and the hippest place on the playground, "Swingset." The album explores many different moods and sounds, from the airy, pretty pop of "Tower of Blocks"; the fiesty almost-punk of "I Don't Wanna"; the Woody Guthrie-esque folk of "River Flow"; and the bittersweet piano ballad "Liesl Echo," which plays like a happier version of the love story between Echo and Narcissus in Greek mythology. Among the clever wordplay and imagery on songs like "Red Banana" (which is what green gorillas eat, natch) and "Me & My Invisible Friend," Ralph's World lightly imparts some important life lessons. "Tim the Boy" is a gentle, witty reminder to "listen to what you tell yourself," while "Yum! Yuk!" tells you that everything, from candy to people, can be good or bad, and you won't know which is which until you try them out. "Hideaway," meanwhile, stresses the importance of having a special space of one's own — something that should be easy to find while listening to Green Gorilla, Monster & Me. This album is business as usual in some ways for Ralph's World, but that only means that it's delightful from start to finish.