ALBUM REVIEW: Return To The ‘E’ – K’mono

K’MONO are bringing a very fresh old school vibe. That sounds like an oxymoron but perfectly fits the sound of this trio from Minneapolis. Releasing their debut album Return To The ‘E’, the group consisting of Chad Fjerstad, Timothy Java and Jeffrey Carlson states that 70s influenced progressive rock does not need to sound dusty at all. The amazingly colourful cover artwork looks like a mixture of PINK FLOYD, Alice In Wonderland and the illustration of a battle scene taken out of an ancient mythology.

Tension starts to grow with instrumental opener Highlighter. The combination of Hammond organ and really soft vintage delay on the guitar reminds one of some older DEEP PURPLE hits dressed in a psychedelic garb. With a still very present organ sound at the beginning, All For The King continues fittingly. This song beams the listener up and leaves them sitting in a parallel universe, somewhere between space and time: the rhythmic bass line and the sharp, clock-like drumstick clicking is joined by very playful guitars and synths.

With this track K’MONO are taking on a more indie pop route, similar to some THE SHINS songs. Rocky guitars brings the following track Which Warlock?. Starting out really relaxing it gets dramatically powerful by the end. The Judicious Shall Be Particoated & The Unpregnant O’er Wrought is an ultimately strange track name, yet matches perfectly these last thirteen minutes of madness made out of blurring, wobbling synth sounds and disharmonies which is jazzed up by a romance bringing saxophone and some uplifting carefree Disney-like lyrics (unless a ″Ladida″ does not count as lyrics). 

On Return To The ‘E’, nearly every song is – as is common for progressive rock – over five minutes long and has its own suspense curve and story to tell. Extensive instrumental parts with many layers give opportunity to get sucked into this musical colourful whirl. The lyrics seem to be based on a fictional world from times long past or very far in the future (not quite sure). Even though K’MONO are putting a lot of sounds into their songs, there still is a lot of repetition to not get totally lost within all these impressions. 

K’MONO produced a really enchanting psychedelic progressive rock album that breathes lots of vintage sounds (created by a Mellotron i.e. a forerunner of the synthesizer). That being said, Return To The ‘E’ still sounds very fresh and modern – a very enjoyable combination of old and new.

Rating: 8/10

Return To The ‘E’ is out now via self-release.

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