Following the release of their unapologetic single ‘Relax‘ featuring legendary punk poet and fellow Colchester resident John Cooper Clarke and their recent anthems ‘Borstal‘ and ‘Midnight Club‘, which have collectively been praised by the likes of BBC Radio 1‘s Gemma Bradley and Nels Hylton, and BBC 6Music‘s Angelle Joseph, Kiss Fresh, BBC Introducing, Amazing Radio and A&R Worldwide’s Passport Approved, not to mention a riotous sold-out show at the Lexington in December, Monster Florence continue the support for their eagerly-awaited new album Master System with the vibrant new offering ‘Spaceman‘.
Conjuring more of that raw and progressive direction that has quickly become a hallmark of their material over the years, Spaceman sees them venture down a more retrospective route. Channelling their individual tales of growing up in a world they felt disassociated from, their newest release looks to shine a light on those adolescent experiences in the hope others can find solace and comfort within them.
Adding about ‘Spaceman’, they said, “Spaceman tells very personal stories of our childhoods, a journey of trying to escape the realities of what we were faced with, a common story for many and something we hope resonates with people and their own version of those memories.”
Following the enormous support for their 2020 EP ‘Cowboys & Idiots, Monster Florence look set to make Master System their most impactful to date. Moving on from their more recent offerings, this new collection sees them venture into unexplored territory to deliver a rousing album that blurs the lines of contemporary music, continuing to push their sound ever forward.
“The quick rise of the digital age has opened a sort of Pandora’s box. Some innovations are designed to connect and enhance our lives, and others are a mockery of life itself. We hang digital art on digital walls to impress digital friends, and meanwhile the world burns.
“Master System delves into the future effects of technology on the world by reaching to the past. Movies like Blade Runner and Total Recall were big inspirations. They imagined a retrofitted vision of the future; one where high-tech flying cars operate over a decayed industrial landscape. That’s something we tried to do with the sound of the album. We have distorted synths woven into full string sections. There are ghostly operatic vocals and saxophones beside robotic vocoders. Its the idea that the future isnt sterile and gleaming, but an accumulation of everything that came before.
“Lyrically there is religious symbolism, epistemology and heartbreak. It’s a twisted love letter to our society and culture. The western world inches ever closer to an inherently digital existence, and the Master System is our idea of that eventuality. What does the human experience look like when completely disconnected from the earth?”
Master System Tracklist:
1. Widow
2. Bad Graphics
3. Borstal
4. Lag
5. Relax Featuring John Cooper Clarke
6. Somewhere (Interlude)
7. Spaceman
8. If Dreams Could Be Sold (Interlude)
9. Midnight Club
10. Jiggy Jiggy Featuring Dame
11. Tin Foil Girl
12. Wolf In A Woolly Hat
13. Do The Birds Still Sing In Hell? Featuring Louis The Hippie
Hailing from Essex, the acclaimed six-piece behind ‘Deck of Cards‘, ‘26 Ghosts‘ and ‘Beautiful Death‘ have spent the last decade defying genres with their critically revered blend of rap, alt pop, punk, indie, psychedelic rock and more. What originally started off as a few studio sessions between producer Tom and vocalist Alex, soon turned into a full-blown musical project.
As a six-member group, each with their own diverse individual backgrounds and mixed bag of musical styles makes Monster Florence somewhat of an anomaly in today’s musical climate. While it was common in the ’90s for there to be an influx of multi-member acts, these have become more rare as the years go on. But for Monster Florence, drawing from a multitude of genres: hip-hop, punk, indie, psychedelic rock and anything in between is what makes this band so unique. Much like The Flaming Lips, Wu-Tang Clan and Los Angeles collective Odd Future, their strength lies in numbers – even if it did take a little time to find their feet.
When Monster Florence first started working on the album there was no title in mind. It wasn’t until after they recorded the tracks ‘Bad Graphics’ and ‘Lag’ that a loose concept started to form; to create an immersive world through their music, it also happened to coincide with the coronavirus pandemic, a period that gave rise to a digital revolution and saw a wave of new online activities and assets start to dominate the global conversation: NFTs, live streams, crypto currency and the Metaverse being a few of them.
The album’s artwork depicts Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden – only they’ve been replaced by two androids. Artist Scribbler explains: “The robots in the Garden of Eden represent the idea of man playing God. Artificial intelligence, the metaverse and etc are, in a way, a crude mockery of the natural world and the way we interface with it. The forbidden fruit can speak to many temptations with eventual catastrophic consequences. Whether that be climate change or AI sentience, thats up to you. Its more an observation than a point of view”.