The Mon‘s upcoming LP, Songs of Embrace, is the second of a two-part cycle that began with 2025’s Songs of Abandon (review here) called ‘Embrace the Abandon’ (get it?) that the solo-project of Ufomammut‘s Urlo is overseeing through their affiliated Supernatural Cat imprint. The first single, “Incantation,” is streaming now, and the cyclical waves of drone that build around the central exploratory figure speak to the solidification of purpose behind Urlo‘s work as The Mon through experiments in action. That is to say, surely trying new things is te idea, but there’s direction here enough that the material was carved into two separte, complementary releases. I’m curious how the two will play side by side.

The PR wire sent the following info, and the video for “Incantation” is at the bottom of the post:

THE MON: Ufomammut Solo Project To Issue Songs Of Embrace – The Second In A Two-Album Series, Embrace The Abandon – March 6th On Supernatural Cat Records; “Incantation” Video And Preorders Posted

Embrace The Abandon is the two-album series by THE MON, the solo vision of Urlo, vocalist/bassist of the long-running Italian heavy-psychedelic trio Ufomammut, as well as the co-founder of the internationally renowned poster art collective Malleus Rock Art Lab and of the independent label Supernatural Cat.

Where Ufomammut projects massive, otherworldly soundscapes, THE MON offers a more vulnerable and introspective experience. The music moves through shadowy electronic landscapes, ambient textures, and hypnotic dark folk, always guided by an emotional core that searches for meaning, balance, and transformation.

The name THE MON evokes several layers of meaning: a contraction of “demon,” “monk,” and the Japanese word 門 (mon, meaning “gate”), a symbolic passage toward altered states of consciousness and inner truth. This duality of light and dark, sacred and profane, runs through the entire project.

THE MON’s Embrace The Abandon is structured in two complementary chapters – Songs Of Abandon and Songs Of Embrace – the project depicting a journey of duality: loss and surrender on one side, acceptance and rebirth on the other.

Following the November 2025 release of the somber, acoustic guitar-driven Songs Of Abandon – perhaps the most intimate and vulnerable work Urlo has ever created – its companion album Songs Of Embrace is now ready to be heard. Songs Of Embrace is an instrumental counterpart – darker, ambient, and ritualistic – expands the emotional landscape of the series, rather than closing it. While the first part explored abandonment and loss, this one focuses on presence, proximity, and the physical act of staying. It is the answering breath, the inner voice. The album avoids resolution and comfort, embracing slowness, repetition, and bodily tension. It is not just music, it is a stream of consciousness, an inner search, a way of inhabiting what weighs without letting go.

While Songs Of Abandon is a collection of songs, nine tracks written in nine days, Songs Of Embrace is a continuous musical flow. It is a movement that changes, grows, erupts, slows down, settles, and rises again. Like the sea, it’s calm and still one moment, then moved by a simple breath of wind, suddenly breaking into a storm. The pieces are deeply interconnected, like embraces: some bring comfort, others carry pain; Compositions meant to be listened to in one continuous breath, allowing yourself to be held, rocked, and sometimes pushed away, just like in an embrace.

Songs Of Embrace was written, performed, produced, recorded, mixed, and mastered by Urlo at The Howl, Italy, and as with all Supernatural Cat releases, completed with artwork and videos by the Malleus Rock Art Collective.

Urlo reveals, “Songs Of Embrace was conceived more like a work of classical music, a suite: Different parts unfolding one into the next, each a continuation of the previous one, finding meaning only as a whole. For this reason, choosing individual tracks to represent the album is difficult. The pieces are deeply interconnected, like embraces: some bring comfort, others carry pain. These are compositions meant to be listened to in one continuous breath, allowing yourself to be held, rocked, and sometimes pushed away, just like in an embrace.

“‘Incantation’ is the first piece I chose to introduce Songs Of Embrace. It acts as a bridge to the previous record: a repeating guitar pattern that, like a spell, an incantation, slowly unfolds through sounds and reverbs, opening the path into the album’s inner journey.”

Watch the video for THE MON’s “Incantation” RIGHT HERE and stream the song HERE: https://idol-io.ffm.to/incantation

Songs Of Embrace will be released March 6th, on digital platforms, digisleeve CD, and LP. The vinyl will be issued in a standard pressing on 180-gram White/Black marble vinyl, and an extremely limited version in a run of 100 copies pressed on 180-gram Black/White blob effect vinyl in a hand-printed silkscreen cover, crafted by Malleus Rock Art Lab on high-quality paper, with a digital download and CD included. A bundle option including both Songs Of Abandon and Songs Of Embrace is also available.

Find preorders at Supernatural Cat HERE: https://www.supernaturalcat.com/home/?s=embrace&post_type=product

Songs Of Embrace Track Listing:
1. Invocation Of The Abyss
2. Three Nails, One Heart
3. Incantation
4. The Sigil
5. A Pearlescent Pulse Of Light
6. Ritual Of Night Violence
7. Sovereign Of Silence
8. Embers Of Calendula
9. Echoes Of The Drowned
10. Embrace The Abandon

THE MON + kariti – European Tour 2026

18/3 — HR — Zagreb — Mochvara
19/3 — AT — Vienna — Arena
22/3 — DE — Berlin — K19
24/3 — DE — Halle — Hühnermanhattan
25/3 — DE — Bremen — TBA
26/3 — DK — Copenhagen — Lygtens Kro
27/3 — SE — Stockholm — Nalen Klubb
28/3 — NO — Oslo — Mausoleum Vigeland
31/3 — DE — Hannover — Stumpf
01/4 — BE — Kortrijk — The Pit’s
02/4 — BE — Leuven — Chapel Of Our Lady Of Fever
03/4 — NL — Eindhoven — Effenaar at ’t Rozenknopje
04/4 — NL — Utrecht — Black Earth at Moira
05/4 — DE — Karlsruhe — P8

https://www.urlothemon.com
https://themon.bandcamp.com
https://www.instagram.com/urlo_the_mon
https://www.facebook.com/urlothemon
https://www.youtube.com/@TheMon_official

https://www.supernaturalcat.com
https://www.malleusdelic.com
https://www.instagram.com/SupernaturalCat_recs
https://www.facebook.com/Supernaturalcat666

The Mon, “Incantation” official video

This is one of those pairings that’s an absolute head-slapper; so obvious once it’s said out loud, like duh, how could you not see that coming? The Mon, which is Urlo from Ufomammut‘s let’s-get-even-weirder experimentalist outfit, and semi-solo atmospheric singer-songwriter Kariti pairing up for a tour makes rare sense, especially right now.

The Mon‘s 2025 release, Songs of Abandon (review here), may only have been one piece of a two-parter still to be concluded, but its being based around acoustic songwriting makes the material well-suited to complement Kariti, whose Still Life (review here), retained a singular identity while conjuring ambient depth to coincide with the emotional weight of the expressive voice at its center. You’re telling me these two are gonna end up doing songs together?

Well, uh, that sounds awesome. Here’s where it’s gonna happen:

The Mon + kariti – European Spring Tour 2026

Tickets: https://www.bandsintown.com/a/15527272

In Spring 2026, I’ll finally bring Embrace The Abandon on the road.

After having to cancel the December shows with a heavy heart, being able to announce these dates now feels like a quiet victory, a return to something that needed time to grow.

I’ll join forces with kariti, an artist I deeply admire and a friend for many years, to present our new records: Embrace The Abandon, my two-part journey out on Supernatural Cat, and Still Life by kariti, out on Lay Bare Recordings.

Two different voices, two personal paths moving in parallel, meeting on stage each night.

A shared space where sound, silence, vibration, and emotion can unfold freely, shaping each performance in a unique and unrepeatable way.

This tour exists thanks to months of work, trust, and genuine human connection, and to all the promoters, venues, and people who believed in this idea from the very beginning. I’m deeply grateful to finally make this happen, and I truly look forward to sharing these moments with you.

We’re currently working on the final dates and confirmations.

​If you’re a promoter or venue curator and feel this journey could resonate with your space and audience, I’d be very happy to hear from you and explore the possibility of building something together.

THE MON + kariti – European Tour 2026

18/3 — HR — Zagreb — Mochvara
19/3 — AT — Vienna — Arena
22/3 — DE — Berlin — K19
24/3 — DE — Halle — Hühnermanhattan
25/3 — DE — Bremen — TBA
26/3 — DK — Copenhagen — Lygtens Kro
27/3 — SE — Stockholm — Nalen Klubb
28/3 — NO — Oslo — Mausoleum Vigeland
31/3 — DE — Hannover — Stumpf
01/4 — BE — Kortrijk — The Pit’s
02/4 — BE — Leuven — Chapel Of Our Lady Of Fever
03/4 — NL — Eindhoven — Effenaar at ’t Rozenknopje
04/4 — NL — Utrecht — Black Earth at Moira
05/4 — DE — Karlsruhe — P8

https://www.urlothemon.com
https://themon.bandcamp.com
https://www.instagram.com/urlo_the_mon
https://www.facebook.com/urlothemon
https://www.youtube.com/@TheMon_official

https://www.supernaturalcat.com
https://www.malleusdelic.com
https://www.instagram.com/SupernaturalCat_recs
https://www.facebook.com/Supernaturalcat666

https://linktr.ee/kariti
https://kariti.bandcamp.com
https://www.instagram.com/karitimusic
https://www.facebook.com/karitimusic

https://laybarerecordings.com/
https://laybarerecordings.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/laybarerecordings/
https://www.facebook.com/laybarerecordings/

Kariti, Still Life (2025)

The Mon, Songs of Abandon (2025)

The first thing to know is that The Mon‘s acoustic-strum-folk-meets-psychedelic-drone offering, Songs of Abandon, is part one of a two-part cycle, with the intention that a darker, reportedly more ritualistic instrumental complement titled Songs of Embrace to follow in 2026. Between those two titles, one might imagine Songs of Abandon to be somehow colder or starker in some way, and while I won’t discount the lone human presence of Urlo (also of Ufomammut, the Malleus graphic arts collective, and the Supernatural Cat record label behind this release) at the foundation of this material, the experimentalism behind his songwriting in this project, resulting in moments like the intertwining vocal layers of “Hourglass” or the synth-infused (I think) classical-but-foreboding shimmer of “Little Bird,” doesn’t necessarily sound as lonely as one might expect. Or perhaps it’s a more cosmic kind of loneliness.

That is, while Songs of Abandon has been posited as composed during a darker period for the artist making it, Urlo‘s search for catharsis, comfort, whatever it might’ve been, in these songs lends them a fullness of sound and an immersive aspect that resonates beyond the intimacy of a solo, guy-with-guitar singer-songwriter. While not at all without its quiet spaces from the organ line and tapping cymbals of the introduction “Smiling Dog” and the surprisingly straight-ahead acid folk of “Two Stones” — and onward from there — the 10-song/35-minute collection is never entirely still, and it never loses that human presence and sense of expression.

There’s a balance being struck between those sides, surely, but it’s a malleable thing as well, and the guitar gets used differently between a chord-strummer like the first half of “The Hidden Ghost,” which shortly gives over to a distorted amplifier hum for a different kind of echoing, ethereal noise that brings an almost sneaky hypnotic aspect ahead of the fading in guitar strum of “Hourglass,” and the subsequent “The Moon and the Devil,” where the guitar and keys hold sway together for a darker atmospheric affect.

If you caught wind of the grim mystique that pervaded The Mon‘s 2023 LP, EYE (review here), or the ceremonial drone of the earlier-2025 single “Major Arcana” that coincided with a tarot series by Malleus, then Songs of Abandon will likely be a departure. While never quite as Eastern-tinged as, say, Lamp of the Universe — there’s no sitar, for example — there is communion with something beyond the self happening in the material, but it happens in a grounded way.

I don’t know the recording process for a piece like “Two Stones” or the later “The Fluorescent Sand,” which has a keyboardy intro but is so much more about the vivid emotional expression of Urlo‘s vocals that despite being just two and a half minutes long, it stands out from what surrounds, but I’d imagine it varies. Songs of Abandon was put together over a couple years, and so it seems likely that during that time, different songs would have different instrumental foundations. That said, on balance for the record as a whole, it’s Urlo‘s seeking voice and questioning guitar doing the underscoring.

Or so it feels to the listener, anyhow. It’s not that the running water, the synth or certainly not the electric guitar figure throughout and at the end of the penultimate “Beautiful Star” are somehow superfluous to the song itself. That is not, not, not what I’m saying. But even for a self-recording multi-instrumentalist, the practical reality is that one’s hands can only be doing so much at one time, and if Songs of Abandon became a repository for Urlo during the time of its making of this kind of acoustic-guitar-based material, then that doesn’t mean what’s been built up around that isn’t essential.

Especially for a work and a project that is so committed to ambience and to realizing expanded definitions of heavy in its arrangements, these elements are more than the finer details they might otherwise be. As much as the tag ‘experimental’ implies throwing sounds at a wall and seeing what sticks, Songs of Abandon finds its solace in both the human outreach and in the otherworldly vibes pervading around it. Those looking for some glimmer of Ufomammut‘s crush may be able to transpose some likeness to the layered-in shouts of “Mayhem,” but if anything, this record sees The Mon step further into itself than did EYE or Urlo‘s prior output under the moniker.

At very least, it’s operating in a different way, and with a more direct focus on folkish human expression. As to what this might portend for Songs of Embrace, it’s more fun to speculate than it is useful, especially since that second-of-two release is impending and likely not years off and not such a long wait. Urlo has used three descriptors for the answer to this outing, and they are “darker, ambient, and ritualistic,” so that’s what I’m going on.

That would be a shift in sound from much of Songs of Abandon, naturally, but if those characteristics are providing the ’embrace’ in that title, then one can only say it will function similarly to how Songs of Abandon seems to dwell in the aftermath of abandonment, seeking and maybe even finding some relief in the writing and playing. In that way, Songs of Abandon is the most personal work The Mon has yet conjured and that also retains its ambient/experimental mindset makes it that much more individualized.

To be continued, then…

The Mon, Songs of Abandon (2025)

The Mon website

The Mon on Bandcamp

The Mon on Instagram

The Mon on Facebook

The Mon on YouTube

Supernatural Cat website

Supernatural Cat on Instagram

Supernatural Cat on Facebook

Malleus website

So the deal is this. The Mon, which is the experimental/arthouse solo-project of Ufomammut bassist/vocalist Urlo, is set to release two albums. The first, Songs of Abandon, is out Nov. 7 and there’s a video up from it now at the bottom of this post. You’ll find it mellow, psychedelic and melancholic in a resigned kind of way. That’s on purpose. The second, Songs of Embrace, will be out in Spring 2026 and promises a somewhat brighter point of view. The two together form a (Voltron! no it’s not Voltron) duology titled ‘Embrace the Abandon,’ seemingly intended to showcase both perspectives through Urlo‘s layered solocraft.

That’s an easy sign-me-up as the video for “Your Eyes” finds Urlo taking a walk in an alternate dimension, subdued acid folk resulting in a sprawl of atmosphere in which the ebow-ish sounds and acoustic strum reside. At three and a half minutes, it’s over before you know it, but the sense of exploration remains resonant from The Mon, and I wouldn’t expect things to be so light/dark binary between the records in terms of the actual listening. If you’ve, say, been alive for five minutes or so, you know these things are rarely so cut and dry.

Info and vibe came courtesy of the PR wire:

THE MON: Ufomammut Solo Project To Release Songs Of Abandon – The First Of A Two-Album Series, Embrace The Abandon – November 7th On Supernatural Cat Records; “Your Eyes” Video And Preorders Posted

Embrace The Abandon is the new project by THE MON, the solo vision of Urlo, vocalist/bassist of the long-running Italian heavy-psychedelic trio Ufomammut, as well as the co-founder of the internationally renowned poster art collective Malleus Rock Art Lab and of the independent label Supernatural Cat.

Where Ufomammut projects massive, otherworldly soundscapes, THE MON offers a more vulnerable and introspective experience. The music moves through shadowy electronic landscapes, ambient textures, and hypnotic dark folk, always guided by an emotional core that searches for meaning, balance, and transformation.

The name THE MON evokes several layers of meaning: a contraction of “demon,” “monk,” and the Japanese word 門 (mon, meaning “gate”), a symbolic passage toward altered states of consciousness and inner truth. This duality of light and dark, sacred and profane, runs through the entire project.

THE MON’s Embrace The Abandon is structured in two complementary chapters – Songs Of Abandon and Songs Of Embrace – the project depicting a journey of duality: loss and surrender on one side, acceptance and rebirth on the other.

The first chapter of this journey, Songs Of Abandon is perhaps the most intimate and vulnerable work Urlo has ever created. Born in a moment of solitude and personal darkness, the album originated from a radical exercise: writing one song a day, for nine consecutive days, using only acoustic guitar and voice. Later, these sketches were shaped into fully realized tracks, with lyrics and subtle layers of sound – not to overwhelm, but to underline the fragile, raw atmosphere that pervades them. The result is a stripped-down, emotionally charged collection that embodies an inner search: the power of music as a tool to face abandonment, to dig into oneself, and ultimately to glimpse the possibility of an embrace.

Songs Of Abandon was written, performed, produced, recorded, mixed, and mastered by Urlo at The Howl, Italy, between 2023 and 2025, and as with all Supernatural Cat releases, completed with artwork by the Malleus Rock Art Collective.

The first preview of this project arrives through a video for “Your Eyes.” Urlo states with its unveiling, “‘Your Eyes’ closes Songs Of Abandon and was among the very first pieces I wrote for the project. It was 2021 and I set myself the task of writing one song a day for nine days, armed only with my acoustic guitar. Those sketches became the nine acoustic tracks that form Songs Of Abandon. Shaping them into their final form was far from easy. When the mix was finally complete, ‘Your Eyes’ revealed itself as the perfect ending, the closing of a circle. It marked a time when abandonment became a confrontation with myself, a way to re-embrace those eyes through my own gaze. From that darkness, the second part of the album would eventually rise.”

With Embrace The Abandon, THE MON reaffirms itself as one of the most personal and uncompromising projects. It is a body of work that fuses vulnerability and strength, speaking directly to the listener with sincerity, leading them through shadow towards light. An intimate yet powerful sound experience, intertwining the minimalism of acoustic folk with the dark, visionary tension that has always defined Urlo’s artistic path.

The second chapter, Songs Of Embrace, is an instrumental counterpart – darker, ambient, and ritualistic – and it will be unveiled in the Spring of 2026.

Songs Of Abandon will be released digitally, on CD, and on vinyl – with both a standard LP pressing and a limited pressing of 100 copies – on November 7th. Those who preorder the limited edition of Songs Of Abandon will have early access to an advance preorder of Songs Of Embrace as well. Find preorders at the Supernatural Cat webshop HERE: https://www.supernaturalcat.com/home/?s=the+mon&post_type=product

And in the USA at “A Thousand Arms” HERE: https://www.athousandarmsstore.com/collections/themon

Songs Of Abandon Track Listing:

1. Smiling Dog
2. Two Stones
3. The Hidden Ghost
4. Hourglass
5. The Moon & The Devil
6. Mayhem
7. Little Bird
8. The Fluorescent Sand
9. Beautiful Star
10. Your Eyes

[Photo by Francesca De Franceschi Manzoni.]

https://www.urlothemon.com
https://themon.bandcamp.com
https://www.instagram.com/urlo_the_mon
https://www.facebook.com/urlothemon
https://www.youtube.com/@TheMon_official

https://www.supernaturalcat.com
https://www.malleusdelic.com
https://www.instagram.com/SupernaturalCat_recs
https://www.facebook.com/Supernaturalcat666

The Mon, Songs of Abandon (2025)

The Mon, “Your Eyes” official video

The Mon‘s Demon Box book is also a short-story collection, so I guess take ‘art book’ in the headline with that in mind. Leave it to the cats from Ufomammut/Malleus/Supernatural Cat — all the same people — to defy easy categorization. I’m a little surprised they didn’t come up with a separate name for their publishing company, but they’ve done art books for Ufommamut before and such. In any case, both seem like cool projects — you’re not going to go wrong staring for hours at Malleus art or seeing Urlo go multimedia with art, text and aural tie-ins. This is also the 20th anniversary of Supernatural Cat — and I think the 25th of Ufomammut — so yes, it’s pretty special that they continue to explore uncharted ground.

Kind of a niche thing, which feels odd to say about reading, but chalk it up to the context. If you’ve dug into these guys’ world before, you might have an advantage going in, but if you wanted to immerse, this seems like an opportunity to catch while you can, limited pressings being what they are and all that.

Info came down the PR wire:

Supernatural Cat, The Label Operated By Ufomammut And Malleus Rock Art Lab Members, Becomes A Publishing House; Urlo’s Demon Box Book + Exclusive Track Now Available

Italy-based Supernatural Cat Records, the label operated by members of Ufomammut, Malleus Rock Art Collective, and more, has expanded its artistic vision once again, now also operating as a small independent publishing house.

Over the years, the label has complemented its musical and visual journey with various publications connected to the Malleus collective, from the success of The Hammer Of God (over 1000 copies sold, celebrating the first ten years of Malleus) to exhibition catalogues, and The Art Of Ufomammut, a volume dedicated to the band’s graphic universe from its beginnings up to the album 8. Now, Malleus has decided to give continuity to this path by launching a more structured and independent editorial project in the world of publishing.

The first releases in this new phase include:

Magick – A collection focused on Malleus’ most esoteric and symbolic artwork.

Demon Box – A series of short stories written by Urlo (one of the three Malleus members and co-founder of Ufomammut with Poia), exploring a dark and visionary narrative world.

Demon Box is a 96-page book featuring 10 short stories, presented in both Italian and English, each one accompanied by a unique black and white illustration. The book comes in a 17 × 24 cm clothbound hardcover edition, with sewn binding and 150g paper. It is a limited edition of 100 hand-numbered copies, featuring a numbered screenprint on the inner back cover.

Included inside is a download code for “Demon Box,” an exclusive track by Urlo’s solo project, The Mon. The book is now available on supernaturalcat.com also as a bundle edition, which includes a special Demon Box t-shirt created for the release.

The goal is to create a small editorial universe, aligned with the unique and alternative vision they’ve long been exploring through images and music.

The Malleus collective states, “This is a very special and personal release, dark, visionary, and fully aligned with the aesthetic world we’ve been crafting through our music and visuals. Thanks to the continued support of our followers. We hope this new adventure will lead to more one-of-a-kind and unconventional publications. The journey continues.”

Watch a brief teaser for the new works HERE and place orders for the new books, merch, and more at the Supernatural Cat website/shop HERE: https://www.supernaturalcat.com/home/store/

Supernatural Cat was born at the end of the year 2005 by an idea of Malleus Rock Art Lab, one of the most original modern European music poster art collectives. Two of its three founding members are also part of the long-running psychedelic sludge metal trio Ufomammut and more. Over the past two decades, Supernatural Cat has released a wide array of albums from acts like Skyjoggers, Morkobot, OvO, Zolle, Incoming Cerebral Overdrive, Gotho, The Mon, and of course, Ufomammut. With Malleus handling the artwork for these records, most of the pressings include limited hand-screened versions, printed on high quality paper and materials, with the utmost care put into the presentation and sound. The collective has also partnered with other labels for some of their releases including Neurosis’ Neurot Recordings.

Earlier this year, the label launched a new US-based webshop through A Thousand Arms, which allows customers from North America and beyond to explore their vast catalog of incredible releases without paying inflated import shipping prices from Europe, joining indie labels such as Pelagic, Crazysane, Dunk!, Golden Antenna, Exile On Mainstream, and more.

Browse the Supernatural Cat titles at the A Thousand Arms webshop RIGHT HERE, where the new books will be available shortly: https://www.athousandarmsstore.com/collections/supernaturalcat

https://www.supernaturalcat.com
https://supernaturalcat.bandcamp.com
https://www.instagram.com/SupernaturalCat_recs
https://www.facebook.com/Supernaturalcat666

[Click play above to stream Eye by The Mon in its entirety. Album is out tomorrow on Supernatural Cat and available to order here.]

Eye is the second full-length from The Mon, a solo-project helmed by bassist/vocalist Urlo of Ufomammut, and whether it’s for the echoing reach of its atmosphere, the finer detailing in the ticking-clock plucked violin strings on “Burning From Afar,” the empty-space minimalism from which “The Manure of Our Remains” swells, or the low-end drone that underscores opener “The Sun,” it is an album that feels very much made for headphones.

Produced, mixed and mastered by Urlo in follow-up to 2018’s Doppelleben and sundry multimedia experiments under The Mon‘s banner, the 11-song/37-minute collection sees issue through Supernatural Cat and features artwork by Malleus, as Urlo finds his way into a kind of multi-tiered Neurot Recordings-esque DIY structure while at the same time bringing in guest contributors throughout the release, whether it’s Amenra‘s Colin H. Van Eeckhout contributing lyrics and vocals on the wistful “To the Ones,” Steve Von Till of Neurosis doing likewise, plus synth, for “Confession,” or the artist Francesca De Franceschi Manzoni adding her voice to the channel-spanning layers amid the quiet guitar march/synth of second track “Secret,” which instead of exploding into heft for another seven minutes as an Ufomammut song might, instead turns to blinding synth wash for its payoff. So it goes.

Sarah Pendleton of The Otolith (ex-SubRosa) is the most prominent of the guests, at least in terms of affecting the sound of the record. Her violin fits seamlessly into the psychedelic synth and backward guitar of “This Dark o’ Mine,” the longest inclusion at 5:10 with samples of what sounds like some kind of crackling dug deep into the mix under the at-least-doubled lead vocal from Urlo — who seems throughout to be inventing an alien cosmic folk branched off of Ufomammut‘s alien cosmic doom — and songs like the subsequent “Burning From Afar” and the Eeckhout-sung “To the Ones” are greatly bolstered texturally by her work, never mind that she’s there alongside Urlo as “The Sun” rises at the start of Eye as one of the first impressions the album makes.

Not to be forgotten or minimalized are the two guest spots on guitar from White Hills‘ Dave W., on “Burning From Afar” and “This Dark o’ Mine,” the latter a manipulated backwards solo and the former — which of course is the track after because I’m bouncing around here and that seems to be what the record wants as it gives you different worlds to explore, some lush, some purposefully not — buried somewhere amid the violin, synth, chime-or-chime-sound, low-end undulations and vocals that make up the track, the total impact like krautrock and surprisingly un-manic for how much has gone into it. There are a few flirtations with prog throughout as some of the vocal patterns might remind of earlier Porcupine Tree in the album’s midsection, but as a whole, Eye is strange enough and enough its own thing that the only genre that applies is ‘weirdo,’ and that is a flag righteously flown.

But not gregariously. Most of Eye, at even its loudest, manifests its heft through atmosphere and emotionalism. And the guests of course add much to the proceedings and give reviewers something to talk about and it’s nice to have friends, etc., but the core of The Mon is of course in Urlo‘s craft and performance. He is all alone on “The Manure of Our Remains,” and the bulk of side B in the final four pieces, the brief instrumental “Mimmi” beginning a procession through the acoustic/synth-based poetic repetitions of “Where,” the sci-fi (or horror, I guess) drone ceremony of “Vampyr” — quick like “Mimmi” at 1:33 — and the finale “Pupi,” which builds on the folkish impression with a Donovan-from-space quiet, semi-spoken vocal delivery in layers and declarative guitar strum to announce the end of its lone verse, the song ending instrumentally before some last captured sample, obscure but likely significant if only to Urlo himself, finishes.

That shift in structure would seem to happen as “Burning From Afar” leads off side B, but with Eeckhout stepping in on “To the Ones” just prior to “Mimmi,” the feeling is more intimate by the end of the album. It’s still given aurally to breadth, but the interplay of short and kinda-short songs in that four-track last stretch of underscores the experimentalist heart of The Mon as an outfit, and highlights the shift from the voluminous drones and outright heavy — sometimes even drummed! — plods that made up Doppelleben to this more contemplative, vocally-focused style. But whatever else it does, and it does plenty, Eye does not allow for easy narrative. In its folkish shift, its experimentalist range around guitar-and-voice-centered traditions, and in the elements of sound that seem to come and go throughout, sometimes with personnel, it is a complex and multifaceted listening experience, Urlo‘s voice guiding the proceedings with emergent confidence and a still-explorational intent.

By which I mean that The Mon declares itself clearly in this material, but the clarity is in the act of feeling its way through the songs. Many artists will tell you they didn’t know where a song was going until it got there. There are moments in Eye that seem genuinely born out of that kind of experience, and the overarching impression is still one of forward growth to come, whatever that might mean in a context that’s already demonstrated such breadth and an ability to pivot in sound from one release to the next. The outer-reaches vocal chanting of “The Manure of Our Remains,” the sweet and ethereal winding of the violin and synth of “The Sun,” and the ideas-parade that caps, along with the fluidity of personnel and the general variation of sonic purpose give Eye a scope that goes beyond the hearing, but it remains emotionally resonant however far out it goes, and so its kaleidoscopic intimacy is cohesive when met on its own level. That’s not something every listener is going to want or be able to do — it never is — but The Mon is more dug into the approach than the outcome here, and there’s no guarantee that the same approach would be taken again, despite the fact that there’s enough vision at work in the material to flesh out an entire career arc.

In other words, it’ll meet you out there. It’s waiting.

The Mon, “Where” official video

The Mon on Facebook

The Mon on Bandcamp

Supernatural Cat website

Supernatural Cat on Facebook

Supernatural Cat on Instagram

Malleus website

All around horizons, sunrises and sunsets, suns and moons, northern lights and the equator in the middle of the sky like a shooting star, and the man and a monkey, dinosaurs and paper boats, all day and all night, and the rocks above the sea floating above the sky and I saw aeroplanes moving those buried in green fields of silence while I, in the middle of all this, believed, thought, dreamt of being alive. — The Mon, “Demon Box”

The Mon is a new solo-project from Ufomammut bassist, vocalist and synth master Urlo. Born Giovanni Rossi and based in Tortona, Urlo is also a member of the graphic arts collective Malleus and has overseen releases through Ufomammut‘s label wing, Supernatural Cat. With The Mon, he pushes further, into atmospheric improvisation, video expression and series, and narrative storytelling. “Demon Box,” the new single from The Mon premiering in the video below, was born out of a story written by Urlo — very much a man-meets-demon kind of affair — and posted to his website (urlothemon.com) that he wound up backing with improvised guitar and a synth track while he recited the tale.

That original improv version of “Demon Box,” with Urlo reading as he plays in what I’ll guess is a home studio, can be seen below. It’s an impressive feat — one thinks of playing guitar and singing in corresponding rhythm and melody as difficult enough, let alone reading a full sentence rather than the lines of a verse while still strumming — but he pulls it off, and though the official video with the creeping bugs and so on brings a more refined mix of the song (such as it is), it continues to hold the exploratory spirit from whence it was made while also showing Urlo as a songwriter one way or the other in the builds and cascades of his sentences. The full clip runs a little under nine minutes, and flows easily in atmosphere and ambience as Urlo seems to be setting up paths leading through what seem like disparate influences through folk, cinematic scoring and short-story writing.

But as ever — and this was always something that made Ufomammut special too — these lines aren’t really there. If you read that sentence in the last paragraph (first, thanks) and maybe imagined a road forking in three different directions, the reality of The Mon is different in that it’s not about one or the other, it’s about encompassing all of it into a multi-dimensional work. “Demon Box,” as a vehicle for this impulse, brings various sides together instead of splitting them apart by category, and that’s something of which other manifestations can be heard in The Mon‘s other recorded work in the 2020 two-songer “The Manure of Our Remains” b/w “Blut (Acoustic Version)” or The Mon‘s previous full-length collection, 2018’s Doppelleben, which purposefully centers around the idea of leading a double-life, who you are and who you become.

I won’t try to predict where Urlo might steer The Mon from this point — what fun would that be? — but at a time when many are being forced to or feeling an impulse to follow new avenues of creativity, “Demon Box” is s consistent in purpose as it is divergent in form.

Please enjoy:

The Mon, “Demon Box” official video premiere

The Mon is the solo project of Urlo, bass player, singer and synth master of Ufomammut.

This song is based on a story written by Urlo a few years ago and titled “Demon Box”.

The story is about a man, staring at an open box seeing a lot of mystical and crazy things happening in his mind.

He sees the history of the world happen, as an alchemical transformation of everything into gold, the search for knowledge and the infinite smallness of the human being compared to Nature.

The man closes the box and goes away.

It is the cruel story of life, as the video represents.

An ant nest, a centipede and a spider cross their paths of life and death without apparent contact, but linked by the surrounding environment.

The song was originally born as an improvisation and then I decided to record it and make it an official release, being a new musical path I never did before.

The song is a sort of “reading” in music.

You can read Demon Box and other stories on The Mon website (https://www.urlothemon.com/site/stories/) and also check the Youtube channel here: http://bit.ly/2O1EDBb

You can buy the song here: https://themon.bandcamp.com/track/demon-box

The Mon, “Demon Box” original improvisation

The Mon on Thee Facebooks

The Mon on Instagram

The Mon on Bandcamp

The Mon website

Supernatural Cat website

Malleus website