The Monochrome Set

cerebral baroque-pop from the revolutionary post-punk veterans.

This band has been a huge influence on the likes of Franz Ferdinand, The Divine Comedy & Graham Coxon. Their sound has often been described as ‘timeless’, & that alone explains why, over the years, the band has continued gaining admirers. This sound is at its most ornate, featuring a myriad of fiddlers, pluckers, beaters & wailers surrounding a central core of notorious crackpots. The hauntingly melodic pop harks back to the early TMS period of “Eine Symphonie Des Grauens”, but is now complemented by a vampire’s orchestra, whose charnel chiming careens into carnal rhyming chanting, while saints & demons trip lightly across the slick red fields of liberty. As with all TMS albums, “Fabula Mendax” is at once accessible & arcane, upbeat & dark, lush & spare, & with lyrics that remain tantalisingly opaque.