Ilya Monosov - Sailor Man

The new album from the guitarist of The Shining Path and one half of Monosov/Swirnoff Duo is quite a sedate listen. Which is quite a surprise, because looking at the cover you'd be damn sure you were about to embark on an epic journey into the heart of guitar darkness. The cover's moody. Very moody. The LP is anything but. Alright, it is slightly dark, but it sits in more traditional singer-songwriter territory. It's quite sophisticated, you might even say it's a bit Randy Newman...Randy Newman who's had his larynx removed and let herself go. It has whispered almost Slint style vocals, and gentle percussion and swooping instrumentation. Sometimes. It's quite a laid back offering, occasionally reminding me of Morphine (the band) with its claustrophobic production. The first song's a right deceiver. It's uptempo and quite rocking. The rest of this record doesn't exactly follow suit. The majority of the tracks are like something you might hear in a provincial cafe. It's all gently strummed acoustic guitars and gentle accordion/keyboard shuffles. If you know what I mean. I guess this record is a very different beast to what you might associate with Monsieur Monsov. It's not psych (like Monosov/Swirnoff) but it does have quite a minimalist undertow on a few tracks. It's a gentle yet unnerving record that will intrigue and delight some, and mystify some others. A solid batch of songs.