photos by Francesca De Franceschi Manzoni
Eye, the second album from THE MON â the solo project of Ufomammut member Urlo â was released in May through Supernatural Cat Records. Today, Everything Is Noise is hosting the premiere of a new video for the LPâs song âSecret,â as Urlo prepares to perform the projectâs first live gigs.
Urlo is most widely known as the lead vocalist, bassist, synth player and one of the founding members of the heavy psych Italian band Ufomammut, as well as one of the three minds behind the poster art trio Malleus Rock Art Lab, and one of the operators of Supernatural Cat Records. The aim of his solo project THE MON is to reach the boundaries of a spiritual soundscape in which music becomes purification and atonement, a way to bring out the world that is inside the human soul. Where Ufomammut creates mind-expanding, heavy psychedelic, almost other-dimensional sounds, THE MON is far more intimate, looking inward, as Urlo explores and examines his innermost thoughts through music. THE MON builds layers of brooding sounds which sometimes unfurl at a glacial pace and other times lurch with rhythmic propulsion, each piece distinct, densely packed, and all-consuming in their evocative atmospheres.
In comparison to its predecessor, Doppelleben, THE MONâs Eye LP is more introspective and denser, the new record built around electronic soundscapes and acoustic atmospheres that take you on a sonic journey where the songs flow nonstop into one another. While Urlo performs the entire musical foundation of the album, he is joined by a cast of special guests, with vocal/lyrical contributions from Steve Von Till (Neurosis), Colin H. Van Eeckhout (Amenra), and Francesca De Franceschi Manzoni, as well as violins from Sarah Pendleton (Subrosa, The Otolith), and guitars from David W (White Hills).
Eye was written, performed, produced, recorded, mixed, and mastered by Urlo at The Howl, Italy, and the artwork completed by the Malleus Rock Art Lab collective. While choosing a singular genre for THE MONâs Eye is surely a difficult challenge, one could classify the album as heavy dark folk electronic.
With the new video, Urlo reveals, ââSecretâ is a song about friendship, loss, separation. I imagined all this as a galaxy in which our emotions become stars, waterfall of colors, lights in which we lose ourselves. In this period, I’m preparing for THE MON‘s live shows, and I’ve worked a lot on the configuration of my pedalboard. One evening, looking at all those lights turning on and off, I thought they were a small galaxy, a pocket universe from which sounds and emotions filter. And I tried to take close-ups, discovering a hidden world that perfectly reflected âSecret.ââ
Everything Is Noise writes in part with the videoâs debut, âA track as haunting as it is eerily relieving, the atmosphere expands far and wide with only a fairly narrow range of timbre. Creating so much with seemingly so little, the song will instantly put you into an introspective trance. Even without knowing the specifics of the subject matter in vocalist and main songwriter Urloâs lyricism, the layered vocals, decadent guitar and bass, and synth stabs throughout the trackâs progression set the tone for an embodiment of emotional devastation. Somehow, the very essence generated by deep feelings of sadness tend to work as tools to craft the exact opposite effect of healing or coping with them as well; THE MONâs Secretâ makes no exception to this theory, as it allures the senses from start to finish.â
See THE MONâs âSecretâ video first at Everything Is Noise RIGHT HERE.
Also watch the prior videos for âWhereâ HERE, âConfessionâ HERE, âTo The Onesâ HERE and âBurning From Afarâ HERE.
Eye is out now on limited 12â Blue and Red Vinyl variants and digipak CD, available at the Supernatural Cat label webshop HERE and all digital outlets including Bandcamp HERE.
 Urlo is preparing to take THE MON live for the projectâs maiden shows, with three performances booked in October. See the confirmed dates below and watch for more to be booked in the months ahead.
THE MON Live:
10/12/2023 Teatro Linguaggi Creativi â Milano, IT
10/13/2023 Raindogs â Savona, IT
10/22/2023 Freakout â Bologna, IT
https://themon.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/urlothemon
https://www.supernaturalcat.com
https://www.facebook.com/Supernaturalcat666
https://www.instagram.com/SupernaturalCat_recs
https://www.malleusdelic.com
The post THE MON: Everything Is Noise Premieres âSecretâ Video From Solo Project Of Ufomammut Member; Eye LP With Guests From Neurosis, Amenra, White Hills, And More Out Now + Debut Live Shows Booked first appeared on Earsplit Compound.
