Pages

Monday, October 19, 2020

Mone's dark folk, twisting and turning illumination of "Big Brown Bear"

 









"To the thieves who tightened up my freedom"


Dutch born and bred, singer-songwriter, musician, artist, Mone stepped into the Dark Folk scene in Berlin back in 2017, informing it as it informed her, before returning back to the Netherlands to complete Art School. By 2019 she was signed to newly founded label collective, The Famous Gold Watch Records and began collecting her thoughts and sounds, shaping what would become her upcoming debut album, "Crocodile Kisses" set for release soon (2020). 

Listening to some of the singles like the jagged, deliciously bombastic "Rat", the title track and the third single "Big Brown Bear" I am captivated in a hard rough way, pulled by my shirt collar up close. Mone's aesthetic to me thus far, on a cursory level and my opinion only fueled by three wildly different songs feels like daring, divergent art pieces. I am feeling an amalgam of folk and baroque pop with post punk underpinnings (at least in attack and tone) and I thought of Fiona Apple, P.J. Harvey, Dresden Dolls, and Bjork all at once. I, in fact, (should I even say this?) felt somewhat underwhelmed by FA's "Fetch The Bolt Cutters" and intuitively feel like Mone's debut will feel like a beautifully dark, engaging remedy. 

[Born in a time of #metoo, Big Brown Bear started as a reflection on Mone’s own experiences with sexual harassment and the experiences of her friends, and how the way the female body is regarded complicates one’s own relationship with it.

This was combined with a silly jealousy of the animals Mone loves to watch in nature documentaries:

“I like to watch nature documentaries, and I found myself envying the animals I was watching. The big brown bear, the baboon, the fish and the birds. I envied the shamelessness and freedom in which they moved their bodies. Shaking my booty, yawning widely or spreading my legs; I wanted to be able to do all of that with the same ease as they could, unbothered by questions of how people would regard my body and mostly, unbothered by how I myself regarded my body.”]

"Big Brown Bear" musically and poetically has a lot to offer those of us starving for art that takes us to places that other popular or unpopular art doesn't take us. Mone's vocal aesthetic with unsteady melodies and almost otherworldly brittle sounds is at once beautifully and perfectly odd. Yes. Tot ziens.

-Robb Donker Curtius   




THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM - PRESS NOTES:



spotify
whoismone
youtube (73)
facebook (644)
instagram

Gut-wrenching, mesmerising performances drenched in authenticity. Mone provokes and soothes in the same breath. Her thought-evoking subjects – muses, lost loves, power struggles, morality and sex – all convalesce on stage in deep primal self-expression. The honesty, range and command of her performances induce a spellbound state, carrying audiences along in a flare of darkly cutting but tantalising melodies. Each song seems to compel an examination of the sweet and vicious sides of the self, at odds and wholly together in the same step - in a dance, in love and at war. Mone arrived on the Dark Folk scene in Berlin in 2017, making a name for herself as one to watch, before returning to her home, the Netherlands, to complete Art School.

Upon returning to Berlin in 2019 she joined the newly founded label collective The Famous Gold Watch Records. Mone is currently recording her debut album, 'Crocodile Kisses', set for release in 2020.

'Big Brown Bear' - the third single from the upcoming album - is a song born in a time of #metoo. It started as a reflection on Mone’s own experiences with sexual harassment and the experiences of her friends, and how the way the female body is regarded complicates one’s own relationship with it.

This was combined with a silly jealousy of the animals Mone loves to watch in nature documentaries:

“I like to watch nature documentaries, and I found myself envying the animals I was watching. The big brown bear, the baboon, the fish and the birds. I envied the shamelessness and freedom in which they moved their bodies. Shaking my booty, yawning widely or spreading my legs; I wanted to be able to do all of that with the same ease as they could, unbothered by questions of how people would regard my body and mostly, unbothered by how I myself regarded my body.”

Despite this sombre theme, the song doesn’t only show the loneliness of the struggle but develops into a warm, string-laden embrace with a choir of friends.

“Singing this song with my friends, side by side, was so joyful. It showed me the power and warmness of sharing and made me realize that we are not alone in our struggles.”


'Crocodile Kisses' will be released on The Famous Gold Watch Records, Berlin - a new label founded by UK-born Universal artist Cameron James Laing.




NOTICE:  If you enjoyed this article, please consider donating to AP as we are in need of support to keep our coverage of Indie Artists like this one alive: click here > https://gf.me/u/yp5ich









No comments:

Post a Comment