Album Review: Monks Pond, Echoes of an Infinite Dawn
However much there may be happening at a given moment in terms of arrangement, Monks Pond never give up the sense of human performance on Echoes of an Infinite Dawn. Considering some of the expanses they invoke, from the ritual chimes calling to prayer in the leadoff “Sound, the Womb of Being” to the harmonium and violin on closer “Bright Burns the Fire of the Divine,” that should be taken as saying something. The New Jersey-based six-piece keep a strong focus on atmosphere throughout their six-song/36-minute debut full-length, and take influence from classical Indian music as well as psychedelic rock. But for the penultimate “She Wears a Garland of Skulls,” the material is almost if not entirely instrumental — there might be some voice in the mix of “Twameva,” but it’s not like they’re busting out verses and choruses — and so a lot of the focus becomes on the texture within a given piece.
Elements come and go as Shawn Christian Zappo moves from harmonium to keys, vocals and effects, and Julie Albert (credited with vocals along with Zappo) handles shruti box, the Indian folk instrument ektar, gongs, bowls, chimes and kartals (which are chimes), percussionist Bradley Karl backs Steve Moraghan‘s drumming, Heather Ell adds violin and James Malizia Jr. adds a low end warmth that is a uniting factor across the varied songs in uptempo moments like “Flowers Blooming in the Desert” or “Bright Burns the Fire of the Divine,” in which the rhythm section is given more time to shine, as opposed to drone pieces like “Sound, the Womb of Being” and “Twameva,” though the chimes in the latter count as percussion, certainly, and just because a song is fluid and drumless doesn’t mean it doesn’t have a rhythm.
Recorded by Benjamin Feldman and mixed by David Stingle, Echoes of an Infinite Dawn is free to be contemplative or to evoke a more physical sense of motion, and it plays out as a back and forth to some degree between those impulses; meditating, then dancing, and so on. It has a richness of sound without being overly wrought, and its dynamic is laid out from front to back in such a way as to continually draw the listener along with it. “I Saw Her, Lovely as the Moon” follows the comparatively brief opener and sets about establishing its drone quickly before the drums and bass enter to underscore the feeling of motion amid parts cycling through. Flourish of violin (I think) and the central rhythm of the harmonium (I think) or shruti (maybe) carry through the first half of the nearly-10-minute piece, before a pre-midpoint shift begins a second movement/exploration. “Twameva,” which is one second longer at 9:53, as if to emphasize the point of Monks Pond having multiple sides to their songwriting, finds space for a wistful violin melody in its dronescape, chimes echoing through for a fittingly ethereal cast. They hold to this procession, such as it is, and let it breathe and evolve in a way that speaks to the patience underscoring much of what they do.
But “Twameva” is also the longest of the three dronier inclusions, just like “I Saw Her, Lovely as the Moon” is the longest of the songs with bass, drums, etc., and so the pairing of the two of them is a crucial point in the album, and the way “Twameva” fades out and gives over to the gong at the start of “Flowers Blooming in the Desert” and the subsequent Mediterraneanism of the melody there as it quickly picks up and goes feels like a purposeful play on the audience, lulled from consciousness by the hypnotic tug of “Twameva” only to have “Flowers Blooming in the Desert” provide the snap back to reality, such as it is. It’s a page out of classic rock and roll, and though that’s not what Monks Pond are playing, it speaks to the cultural influence underlying what they’ve shaped their sound to be in this material. “Flowers Blooming in the Desert” is tense in its groove but not offputtingly so, and the fact that it, “She Wears a Garland of Skulls” and “Bright Burns the Fire of the Divine” are shorter than “I Saw Her, Lovely as the Moon” and “Twameva,” gives the back and forth a linearity that feels like a whole work in conversation with itself as well as influences from across genres and oceans.
That is, while the transition between “Flowers Blooming in the Desert” and “She Wears a Garland of Skulls” isn’t direct one-into-the-next, the fades out and in are complementary and the concept of Echoes of an Infinite Dawn as a singular work with each individual track as a part comprising it comes through clearly. “She Wears a Garland of Skulls” is a less active song, but an important point in the overarching flow because it features the clearest vocals over its multi-layer drone, and the invocations of its lyrics feel suitably like a prayer callout, getting the attention of the gods to earn favor, then to turn around and depart the drone with “Bright Burns the Fire of the Divine,” which is drone and chimes at its start but soon nestles into a melody and groove that feels very much in answer to “Flowers Blooming in the Desert,” closing the album with a defined instrumental statement after a cymbal wash marks the change, violin and harmonium (again, I think) responsible for the core of the melodic impression being made.
Yes, this is the part where I tell you Echoes of an Infinite Dawn isn’t going to resonate with every listener. It’s just not, and it wouldn’t even if they had hooks in every song. The point isn’t universality so much as finding a mode of expression that is both honest to its inspiration and able to become the band’s own. Monks Pond lay out a swath emotionally on this first LP, and are able to affect revelry as well as a sense of the spiritual in their work. The album is all the more gorgeous for that.
