ORBIS QUADRANTIS

Monomyth is a another psychedelic/space rock band from the Netherlands. This band was formed in 2011 by drummer Sander Evers and bassist Selwyn Slop, the band released its first album in 2013. Currently, the remainder of the band consists of Peter van der Meer (keys, guitar), Tjerk Stoop (digital, guitar), and Boudewijn Bonebakker (guitar). Their forth album, released in September of 2019, is called "Orbis Quadrantis" and consists of 4 epic tracks that together make up a total run- time of around 41 minutes. The album is available on CD, Vinyl and FLAC download on Bandcamp.

From the beginning, you'll notice the music is not rushed as the first track "Aquilo" (12:03) takes its own sweet time to slowly develop from silence, building in a minimal manner with soft keys and guitar effects, and slowly increasing in volume. Drums finally come in a bit before the 4 minute mark, and they continue with the slow crawl already established by the instruments. The intensity jumps up a few notches at this time, but remains quite atmospheric, with the guitars slowly pumping out melodic patterns and the keys holding everything on the ground with sustained chords, almost sounding mellotron-like. Just before 7 minutes, the drums stop and shimmering keys hold the placement of the track until the sudden thumping bass can come in, bringing back the drums with them, and quickly establishing a more mid-tempo sound while echoing guitars play around with an embellished melody. At ten minutes, the guitar takes off on another melodic sequence, this time with a fuller sound that soon involves a release of tension with changing chords that carries it all to a satisfying conclusion.

"Eurus" (10:11) takes off on a lively beat hashed out between drums, percussion and guitar, making for a great, upbeat and driving beginning, quickly renewing your interest while making your foot tap along. The guitar soon takes off on an improvised, yet melodic theme. Soon the guitar plays with the rhythm making everything quite catchy, especially for a space rock style, and you'll find yourself bouncing along with an imaginary concert crowd, shouting "more cow bell, please". The guitars continue to change the main line to keep things fresh and interesting. Excellent jam! Around the 6 minute mark, the tempo slows and becomes more solid, pounding and crashing along with the repeating guitar riff, then becoming softer. The track then slips into a more psychedelic feel with synths and meandering guitars, decreasing in volume along the way until the drums disappear completely and the music lets the guitars just carry you softly to the end.

"Auster" (9:00) takes you by surprise with a programmed synth pattern of a fast moving arpeggio-based riff. A fuzzy guitar plays low notes against this pattern as repeated keyboard notes start to build excitement and then the drums join in with a jangly guitar layer. More keyboard and guitar themes join in to the building layers of patterns as everything builds. There are quite an array of sounds and themes here between all of the instruments that work quite cohesively, taking little parts of a larger theme and pushing things forward. The build up here is very effective and there are times when it really gets your blood boiling as the music constantly reaches forward, culminating in a short pause in percussion, and then resuming again with increased vigor, always pushing for another higher level, saving the biggest pay off for the very end.

"Favonius" (9:08) starts with low shimmering synths and a guitar line that ascends and descends, creating a wave-like effect while the soft drums and keys play along and you float in a more blissful state as the minimal atmosphere carries you away. A slow crescendo starts bringing in new keyboard effects and as the volume builds, so does the intensity, yet the drums stay moderately slow through it. This slow space jam reaches the apex of the crescendo and things just float along for a while with jangly guitar chords creating a new climb towards another level. Finally after 6 minutes, the music gets suddenly heavy and full, and it all crashes to a sudden halt, then guitar feedback swirls downward and disappears as a lone guitar plays. The drums then come in with a smoother sound and we float along until the end.

This is a great album, especially for those that like the space rock instrumental sound with the addition of a lot of great dynamics. The instruments all work together well, creating some nice tight jams that don't always rely on repetition so much, but instead build new and interesting patterns and short melodic lines that never stay stagnant for very long. This makes the music very enjoyable and easy to listen to, plus the dynamics always carry the promise of some great climactic moments. This is not so much of an album to just float off into eternity on, but more of an album you can simply put on, enjoy and feel good about. The two middle, more infectious and heavier tracks are sandwiched between tracks that open and close in a more laid-back style, but all the while, there is plenty of variety in the sound that it never becomes boring. This is definitely a great effort by this band, who proves with this album that they are searching for ways to expand the boundaries of the genre.

MONOMYTH are seriously cult, at the latest after I had the chance to enjoy them live on the stage. Founded by bassist Selwyn Slop and drummer Sander Evers they now have three guitarists in the ranks, which guarantees a lush sound in general. Eh, I'm not talking about making immense noise though. This means, they are capable of creating tension, real tension. The songs gradually establish, step by step, starting with synth patterns by preference, just take the opener Aquilo, and are offered with a looping repetitve krautrock oriented flow, more than ever. Hence this goes for an atmospheric melancholic affair most likely.

You will find only rare occasions, for example on Auster, where the hell is breaking loose, okay, to some extent at least. The album is constituted of a typical vinyl length, all the songs are provided with a playing time of nearly ten minutes hereby. A valid scheme, so much the more when the music can convince. What plays a role in any case is that the track titles are particularly referring to antique expressions regarding four wind directions. Rather important for the shipping in general. Anyway, this will confirm the album title, the cover image, and, finally, why they are presenting themselves as the 'Five Flying Dutchmen'. Wink.

According to that, hey, we are still on the opener, I'm just feeling like crossing the waves with a boat respectively ship. No, not the stormy North Sea, though quite near, we are in The Netherlands, the calmer semi-internal Ijsselmeer maybe, or the myriad canals of Frisia. I would say they are excellently catching this atmosphere. Overall there is a touching sound to state due to well-appointed guitar riffs and smart synths. Eurus then shows a Neu! respectively CAN drive somehow, with the rhythm branch in best form. Spirit-wise the last track Favonius sees them on the top of the pole. East-Northeast is the proper direction maybe. Excellent manoeuvre!

Not as impactful as their debut but studio album number four is almost as good in my opinion. So yes I'd rate this as my second favourite from the band so far. Four long tracks worth 40 minutes on the nose. Still a five piece with four of them adding guitar and three of them adding keys besides bass and drums. The new math but no all but the drummer are multi-instrumentalists. And as I've said before drummer Sander Evers originally from the Dutch band 35007 is a huge asset.

Man that opener "Aquilo" sounds so good once they get cooking. Still the way it starts with those spacey and drifting synths is perfect for headphone fans. A slow build but when we get that steady beat with bass as the guitars play over top I'm smiling. The organ late adds to the power but then an almost symphonic vibe 11 minutes in, a feel good section to end it.The guitar lights it up here.

"Euros" has this repetitive beat with guitar and bass helping with that, quite catchy head-bobbing music. Guitar starts to solo over top at 3 1/2 minutes then the baritone guitar takes it's turn as contrasts continue. It starts to wind slowly down after 7 minutes to the end which is after 10 minutes.

"Auster" opens sounding like TANGERINE DREAM with the moog leading the way. Some distant guitar before a minute that gets louder then the organ starts to pulse as drums arrive. This is good. The guitar starts to solo. Some interesting guitar sounds. Clavinet? What! Maybe this is part of the programming. Great sound before 5 minutes, so much going on as it gets more intense. Organ is back before 7 minutes adding some power.

"Favonius" is spacey to start as synths lead the way then light beats join in and more. More depth around 3 minutes thankfully as it builds. By 6 1/2 minutes it's pretty heavy followed by a calm with spacey guitars and keys. Drums and that earlier lighter sound before 7 1/2 minutes as it sort of drifts along to the end. I liked this record right from the first spin and MONOMYTH are right near the top as far as favourite bands from The Netherlands go.