Artist:
The
Russian Linesman
Title:
Monomyth
II – The Road of Trials
Label:
Loki
Recordings
Released:
24th
January
The
second release of this six part series inspired by Joseph Campbells
‘A hero with a thousand faces’ which is
an analysis of centuries of human storytelling, based around the
anthropological theories of Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, and this
fascinating book provided the blueprint for this new Russian Linesman
project – an artistic abstraction of the concept of the Monomyth –
a formula we are all familiar with in modern day films and books.
In
narratology and comparative mythology, the Monomyth, or the Hero's
Journey, is the common template of a broad category of storytelling
that involves a hero who goes on an adventure, and in a decisive
crisis wins a victory, then comes home changed or transformed.
These
productions layer recorded storytelling over collated instrumentation
and field recordings. Throughout the series the storytellers often
prefer to remain anonymous. However, this
release contains two of his favourite poets Ben Norris and Malaika
Keygode.
The
opening track ‘The Belly of the Whale’ featuring Ben Norris is a
light and airy piece of feel good electronica whilst Ben’s poetry
juxtaposes between apology and positivity although the words are
positive there’s a melancholic feel to his voice. This is followed
by ‘Enemies’ featuring Malaika Keygode, where
the atmospheric intro is followed by a chugging beat, whilst
Malaika’s voice makes this piece reminiscent of Anne Clarke’s
‘Sleeper in Metropolis’ which in my opinion is no bad thing.
Now
the anonymous take over the storyteller roles firstly with
‘Temptress’ a combination of laid back sequenced synths with a
theme of fantasies and attraction. The finale ‘Dragon Battle’
could
be described as a piece of laid back trip-hop, counterbalance with a
tale of subduing a drunken man on a plane from opening the door in
flight.
Reviewed
by Woodzee
Links
All
Stores: https://lnkfi.re/Monomyth-I
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