MONO & THE OCEAN - TRANSCENDENTAL EP (REPRESS 2020)

New 2020 Oxblood/Pink Galaxy Vinyl!

2 bands from very different cultural origins, Japan and Germany... yet spiritually

akin and connected by many similarities: a cinematic approach to music, based on

lengthy, escalating compositions... the fact that both bands have existed for more

than 15 years and released multiple albums since their inception; that they have

toured many times around the globe, visiting off-the-beaten-track territories like

Siberia, New Zealand, South East Asia and South America; and finally their shared

passion for double albums, such as THE OCEAN's "Heliocentric", "Anthropocentric",

and MONO's "The Last Dawn"/"Rays Of Darkness". It only makes sense that these

two bands will now tour together - and release new music just in time for their

extended European run, in form of a split LP. Two songs, only one by each band -

but 24 minutes of new music altogether. THE OCEAN's contribution, a 13 minutes

song entitled The Quiet Observer, was inspired by Gaspard Noe's controversial

movie Enter The Void. The movie tells the story of a drug dealer getting shot in a

Tokyo toilet while tripping on DMT, and entering what is referred to as the,

intermediate state" according to the Bardo Thodol, the Tibetan Book Of The Dead:

the book, which has been a source of inspiration for many writers, artists and

musicians from John Lennon to Aldous Huxley, describes a state immediately after a

person's death, when the intellect of the dead person must face its own illusions, in

the form of peaceful and wrathful deities, in a protracted psychedelic experience.

Only if it manages to expose these horrifying guises as products of its own

imagination, can it escape the eternal cycle of rebirth, and eventually enter nirvana.

MONO, who have toured relentlessly since the release of 2014's double release The

Last Dawn / Rays Of Darkness, address similar topics with their contribution, an 11-

minutes song entitled Death in Reverse. The song serves as a trailer for the

upcoming 9th MONO album, which is scheduled for an early 2016 release through

Pelagic Records. Guitarist and main song writer Takaakira Goto comments: ,The

theme of this track is life and death and regeneration. Even when our bodies decay

and decompose, our souls will prevail unchanged. Our bodies will act as seeds for

the next generation, while our souls will journey together into our new eternal life.

This is the story we want to explore with our next album, a portrayal of our journey

through life towards death; from living out our lives proud and high, to bodies

immolating, infused with precious memories... and through the vast, noisy tunnel of

space, we become pure souls - a single drop of water in the fountain of life." LAbased German cover artist Florian Bertmer was commissioned to transform these

themes into cover art.

TRACKLISTING: 01. MONO - DEATH IN REVERSE 02. OCEAN, THE - THE QUIET OBSERVER