Mønic - Where Reality Fades
Mønic, or Simon Shreeve, is one half of the legendary dubstep duo Kryptic Minds. The latest Mønic project comes courtesy of Shreeve's Osiris Music UK label, a label steeped in history with some of the most grotesque bases you'll hear from the genre. As time passed, Shreeve pushed the atmosphere further and further. Since 2014, Shreeve has been focusing on his Mønic alias, which moves the deep and dark aesthetics further into the rows of techno, jungle and dark ambient.
Where Reality Fades is a dark ambient album that explores drone and loop-orientated ambience. This interesting blend yields some of the most guttural and richly textured UK music you'll be able to find. Mønic sounds like Burial has been through hard times, and his music got darker. It reminds me of walking past a damp inner city canal, its brutalist concrete acting like an allegory for the bleak and desolate music Mønic is putting out.
Mønic's approach to loop-based ambience suffers in that some of the loops come across as innocuous throughout the album, with the worst offender being 'The Flickering Lights', where the ghostly vocals seem to loop ad nauseam. The problem is you can see where Mønic is trying to take the sound, and you can hear the vision when you compare it to someone such as William Basinski and his disintegration loops. Basinski used his Disintegration Loops to show the degradation of sound quality, which echoed the falling of the Twin Towers. Basinski's Disintegration Loops are engaging even for those hour-plus long run times. Each passage would herald new degradation, which would, in turn, impart a bit more character to the loop. You can pick out new elements such as crackles, loss of audio, and slightly filtering the sound with each repetition. I believe Mønic tries to emulate this style digitally. While it's an admirable endeavour, it unfortunately becomes too static. There's not much movement that sticks out with each repetition. This is most notable on the track, 'The Flickering Lights' where the ghostly vocals seem to loop ad nauseam, especially when you take either 'The Final Goodbye' or 'New Blossom', which don't struggle to impart emotion into loops. Mønic uses slow-moving strings and piano that wobble and weave between the frequencies to impart more depth and, in turn, become one of the strongest tracks on the release.
Where Mønic's music thrives so well, isn't it glacial drones that russel and rumble, reflecting the tense undercurrent of the city. The stagnant stillness within many pieces on Where Reality Fades becomes a feature as they worm into your psyche intrusively. Pulling something like this off in trucks takes a deft touch, such as 'Silence Is All That Remains' does it beautifully. It's a track covered in static and almost pulls and pushes you into the deepest parts of city loneliness. There's also a sinister aspect to Mønic's production, 'Where Reality Fades' capitalises on this, using deep Subs to create unease when listening, topped with clanging metallics. The most vital aspects of Mønic's production are where these field recordings and samples sound more organic or real world. It's a slow burn, one for digging into, whereas a lot of ambient can feel like background. Mønic's work is much more involved. It asks questions about where you live and why you left the way you do, which are very personal to you. If it interests you, I would consider taking time to delve into it, as it can be a difficult listing at times but well worth the commitment.
Tracklist:
From This Life To The Next
The Flickering Light
Where Reality Fades
Resting Place
Silence That Remains
The Final Goodbye
New Blossom
Label: Osiris Music UK (2024)
Mønic - Where Reality Fades