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AlbumREVIEWS: 'A Voyage To The Velvet Sun' By The Monophones
Originally released in 2006, The Monophonesâ debut â and so far only â album was a record chock-filled with whimsical instrumentations and â50s to â60s throwback pop flourishes and a whole dose of seventh and suspended chords
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Originally released in 2006, The Monophones' debut ' and so far only ' album was a record chock-filled with whimsical instrumentations and '50s to '60s throwback pop flourishes and a whole dose of seventh and suspended chords.
A Voyage to the Velvet Sun accomplishes what its sets out to do, namely to bring to life the dancehall soundtrack depicted on its retro-futurist album cover. It is big band meets doo-wop meets the always-cherished obsession with all things retro the Indonesian music audience laps up so willingly.
Voyage is being re-released by local independent label Ivy League Music (home to somewhat-similar sounding artists Mondo Gascaro and Darryl Wezy) in cassette form. It is a tribute by the label to a band they consider was too ahead of its time and which deserved plenty more recognition ' from music fans, the media and their peers.
The label's assessment is correct, at least regarding the high probability of the album finding a more receptive audience today, when the world of retro continues to shine brighter than ever.
Opening with the title track, 'Voyage' sets its best foot forward; fluid rhythm sections intersect with plucked electric pianos and funked-up guitars, all layered nicely over trading-off male and female vocals. The song's jumpy rhythms and extended coda, which features a bass solo, also showcases the instrumental mastery of the band members: vocalist Alexandria Deni, bass player Petrus Bayu, drummer-percussionist Taufan Darudriyo and pianist-organist Fajar Dewa.
The same instrumental accomplishment is again in display on 'Fantastic Retro Machine', the album's best track and a big band owing instrumental track that only finds room for some 'pa pa pa' vocalizing. It is speedy like a mix of a spy movie's action scene score and an obscure British invasion B-side, with a touch of jazz on the side.
'At The Beginning' is similar, with more flute at its center, countering the melodies of Petrus' runny bass lines.
The acoustic hush of 'Mentari' (Sun) hops through comfortably, sweet as candy and playful as bell-bottom pants on a bop-haired girl, with love-lorn lyrics, vocal-doubling flute playing and skipping beats. While 'Rain of July' opens up like long-lost Paul McCartney track with harpsichord-like organs before peeling through its Beatles-aping obsession with a good dose of baroque and a quasi-noir sense of somber melancholy in its melodies.
Voyage serves up a fine dish of retro pop with a somewhat particular sense of aesthetic that would have benefitted from being more fully formed. To be fair, the record did come out almost 10 years ago and it is safe to say that the current band should certainly manage to complete the album's themes more thoroughly today.
Similarly, the record's age shows through a questionable balance between vocals and instrumentation, jumping between songs awkwardly ' sometimes with drums that sound un-equalized and too upfront and vocals that conduct the same awkwardness.
A good dose of reverbial flourish would have gained the album some of the spaced-out whimsicality its music sets out to achieve, but for what it is, Voyage is a nice memento of a band that had promise it should be able to complete today.
