Culture Maps Austin Features Monarchs' The Rise and Fall in "2011 in Austin music: The best local albums of the year"

Man.  This writer is right.  Monarchs' record The Rise and Fall is truly a catalog of my life in Austin and is a sonic interpretation of the uniquely Austin lifestyle.  Gives me serious pangs of missing that sunny place... and taco trucks.  Love you ATX, though I'm gone, I've brought you with me and will be back soon.  Thanks for the love. 

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Link to full article here.  Below is the section on Monarchs:

Monarchs, The Rise And Fall
The Rise And Fall is such a singular statement of Austin life — from producer Mike McCarthy’s Spoon/Patti Griffin/Heartless Bastards pedigree to its odes to bike dates on the East Side — that it’s kind of shocking that frontwoman Celeste Griffin moved away shortly after the album’s release. Still, after putting out a record as strong as this, which slides effortlessly between soft, country-twinged ballads and a bouncy, indie-pop sounds, the now-Brooklyn based Monarchs probably belong to the world now. We’ll take a record that sounds every bit like what living a certain type of Austin lifestyle in 2011 was like, and hope that Griffin comes back to visit — with a full band in tow.