SHREYA BOSE
Tales from a Distant Galaxy
(Mixtaped Monk):
Blushing Satellite (The Union):
22
The
Score Magazine
highonscore.com
As the name suggests, this Bangalore-
based band is idiosyncratic, to say the
least. Their music is languid, lush and
leverages impulses to immerse oneself
in good feeling. Their new album “The
Union” ostensibly draws its thematic
inspiration from multiple mythological
and philosophical symbols: the coming
together of Shiva and Shakti, Yin &
Yang, Male & Female. It starts with
a deep-throat chant that is common
in various monastic prayers, and
moves on to play with characteristic
and uncharacteristic tones in novel
melodic setups. The strings and
drums and keys all meld into soft-yet-
stimulating, soothing-yet-gripping
musical tapestries. The songs revolve
on easily identifiable concepts, and
much like the progressions of human
thought and emotion, they do not try to
summarise ideas into easily digestible,
radio-friendly nuggets. Rather, they
let the music play out, following a
certain wanderlust that would emerge
from long hours of introspection.
Rhythms can vary from minimalist to
richly bombastic. “Divine Mother”, for
instance, in its adulation of the divine
feminine principle moves through
diverse musical signatures- mimicking
the cosmic impulse that it sings
of. “Hide and Seek” is comforting,
easy to get into (all thanks to that
dimmed bass). My personal favourite
is “Dream-Nightmare-Union”. Like
its name, its moves from Lethe-like
psychedelic relaxation to a carefully
distorted paean to nightmare. The
union comes after, when the soul has
burned and bathed in trial and regret
– a simple sheen of the saxophone, a
frenetic pounce on the drums, mocking
vocalisation of misplaced desires and
consequent loss. This is followed by a
sweet surrender to balance reflected in
perfect harmony, the realisation that
“It was just a dream”.
The artist recommends that you
listen to this album while imagining
yourself as the protagonist of a sci-fi
epic. I tried it, and I have to say, not
half bad. Mixtaped Monk is known for
experimenting with the expressive
capabilities of instruments. In this
album, he does not disappoint. The
tracks all wallow in refreshing
self-assurance. While they may not
provide the ideal soundtrack to
Dune or Solaris (common names for
the epic sci-fi connoisseur), they do
much to cause a mind drift. Think of
yourself as interacting with a peaceful,
cohesive intergalactic gathering that
just wants to lie back and muse on
definitions of God, and the songs fit
right in. All of them have a similar
progression, expressing a lazy distance
from anything that might get you too
worked up. It plays like a celebration
of de-stress. I’m not saying I didn’t
catch a glimpse of underlying doom in
“Before Genesis”, but its self-indulgent
tones are layered with such precise
abandon that I can’t help but drown
in it. “Inside Insanity” is a sneaky
one. Collaborating with Cousin Silas,
Mixtaped Monk turns this into a
winding, pondering essay, but with
a pungent little kick of distortion in
the places. Try this if you are looking
for something similar to Tangerine
Dream or early Wilson, like Moonlop
or Begonia Seduction Scheme, give
it a whirl. By no means do I mean to
establish an equivalency, but it might
be something to explore if that is your
thing.