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02.04.09
"WDR2 Monocular interview podcast"

Yesterday WDR2 broadcasted our interview conducted by Helmut Brasse. Thanks a lot for the support.

WDR2-Monocular-podcast

We would like to clear up a misunderstanding: VierSieben Records was founded by Thomas Kerwien and Jan Koray.

 

20.03.09
"Water Shape EP - released!"

We are very proud to announce, that our "Water Shape EP" is available at your favorite Online-Store now.
Containing the single "Water Shape" from the forthcoming album "Somewhere On The Line" (April 03, 2009 VierSieben Records/Alive) and three non-album tracks ("Consequence", "To Admire The Life", "Ravenclaw"), it is definitely a must have for all fans of filigree and athmospheric electrosounds.
Where bands like Lamb or Frou Frou left a gap in the late 90s and early 21st century, Monocular redefined the sound and set new standards in developing their complex music by connecting charismatic vocals with entrancing soundscapes.

Don't miss it!

 

19.03.09
"First reviews by the German press"

Our album will be out on April, 03, 2009 and we are looking forward to the release of our EP tomorrow.
Here are the first album reviews:

Zillo 03/09:

Monocular
“Somewhere On The Line“
(VierSieben Records/Alive)

Es ist schon erstaunlich, wie ausgereift und perfekt dieses Debüt geworden ist. Das Duo Jan und Nic Koray mischt ihren zarten Trip-Hop mit modernen Electronica, Ambient und ein wenig Easy-Listening. Die Songs besitzen bei Weitem nicht die Schwere Portisheads oder die Abgründigkeit Massive Attacks. Hierzu ist “Somewhere On The Line“ zu ätherisch, nonchalant und luftig. Das Ganze erinnert eher an Lamb oder auch an Kosheen; gerade dann, wenn es tanzbarer wird. Ein wenig Bowery Electric und Krom schwingen auch mit, sobald melancholischere Klänge ertönen. Jeder Song ist perfekt austariert, klug arrangiert und gefühlvoll inszeniert. Komponist Jan Koray versteht sein Fach – keine Frage. Gekrönt wird die Musik von Nic Korays samtener Stimme, die mal weich, mal lasziv klingt. “Somewhere On The Line“ ist das beste Debüt im erweiterten Trip-Hop-Genre seit Goldfrapps legendärem “Felt Mountain“. Schäfer

Brigitte Balance 03/09:

„Wird Zeit, dunkle Gefühle zu vertreiben – Nic Koray, Sängerin des Dortmunder Duos Monocular, haucht sie mit Frühlingsstimme in den Wind. Ihr Debüt Somewhere On The Line blüht in zarten Aquarelltönen – für Elektro-Fans, denen Portishead zu düster und Björk zu anstrengend ist.“

Coolibri 03/09:

„Auf Myspace kreuzten sich die digitalen Pfade von Jan und Nic Koray. Der Soundtüftler und die Sängerin aus Dortmund begannen im Januar 2008, unter dem Namen Monocular an gemeinsamen Songs zu arbeiten und releasen jetzt das Album Somewhere On The Line auf dem Dortmunder Label VierSieben Records. Es enthält 13 feine Tunes aus elektronischen Sounds, Rhythmen und Klangflächen und dem herrlich emotionalen Gesang von Nic. Der Sound erinnert oft an Bands wie Lamb oder Frou Frou, traut sich aber mehr Reibungsflächen und ungewohnte Melodien und Arrangements zu“

Ruhr Nachrichten 20.03.09

 

 

01.01.09
"2008 has really been the year of changes"

Looking back onto a year that meant quite a lot to each of us personally and to the development of our Debut CD as well 2008 turned out to be a very special year for us.
We got to know each other in January 2008.
In the course of this blessed year and while falling in love with each other beyond borders, we recorded almost 22 songs, put up a live band  and started gigging, arranged, mixed and mastered the songs of the Debut CD  “SOMEWHERE ON THE LINE”, found a label, started to share a flat - and tied the knot!
Due to such prosperous a time, we will release an EP consisting of four songs (three will not be on the Debut CD) at the end of March 2009 , two weeks before the release of the Debut CD
“SOMEWHERE ON THE LINE” on 3rd of April 2009.
We will appear on the radio and you will be able to see us at some exquisite but rare shows.
That is because it unfortunately does not seem to be enough to just make really good music to convince concert promoters to dare book a new band making a different sort of music without being famous.
It is sort of sad to let the German music scene be represented by music of only a few and conventional genres. With this in mind having a look at other countries would be pathbreaking!?
Therefore we will keep doing what we love to do, looking expectantly upon a year full of further plans and pleasure instead.
We will move back to Dortmunds countryside to start working at our own recording studio which will be taller by a mile, re-equipped and have a corner fireplace. Very inspirational!
Bright prospects for 2009...we are full of confidence and grateful that everything is in progress and that this will be another gorgeous year full of music.
Consequently, we are getting ready to record our second CD. (Jan is sitting next to me creating a new song while I am writing this.)

Many thanks for your support. Seize the day!   

Nic + Jan Koray

 

28.10.08
"Beautiful"

Yesterday we finished recording, mixing and mastering a new song called BEAUTIFUL...
I was quite glad I did  the vocals on Friday, because I fell ill the next day. It was really BEAUTIFUL to watch Jan doing his marvellous work on completing, mixing and mastering the song while lying in bed, coughing and sighing but being really happy to see "another kid grow" in his skilled hands. So here you are. That is what we have done so far.
The song does not deal with beautiful things exclusively...
but , I guess, you will have noticed that already.

01.10.08
"Monocular Acoustic Set"

We´ll start playing the first Acoustic Gig at the Werkstadt Witten on the 16th of October supporting BURN. 30 minutes of finest songs taken from the monocular world of sound (and a few of Nic´s acoustic songs as well). Being translated into the language of two guitars and vox!
We like the idea of being able to spread the songs electronically or acoustically...that enables us to play all around the world in tall and small places. Depending to the setting...mood...need of the location and people...
setting us free as well as the music!
looking forward to seeing you there!

 

12.09.08
"Close-Up Photograph"

We enjoyed making a new song... the first one
in the new "studio" in the countryside and we´d like to share the
result with you now! In the middle of nowhere... being surrounded
by loads of trees, bottles of beer and good vibes we created
Close-Up Photograph which took us quite a while to recognize
its real face and finish it...
Here it is...
Do you know these old photographs taken in your childhood
you keep staring at instead burning them?

God bless the music and the trees
Stay in touch and come to the gig tomorrow!

 

02.08.08
"Debut Gig"

We think it was a very special moment for each member of the band to play the songs live for the first time...
Songs...being taken from our hearts...being rehearsed in camera...and then being given to the crowd...
We received an unexpectedly positive feeback
and feel reassured that this was a fine welcome to the inside of music...
It is worth sharing the trip indeed!
Many thanx to the folks of the lovely place called AHLEN SCHUHFABRIK
and anyone who was there on Saturday !

We hope to see you at our next show
(Café Einstein - Dortmund - 13.09.08)

30.06.08
"Nameless"

Jan and Nic made a new song called "NAMELESS" based on the question if there is any word for the state we are in...
Isn´t it a world beyond words actually?
Isn´t it a place nameless?

 

01.06.08
"U-Turn"

Standing by their need to create music, Jan and Nic just recorded
"U-Turn". A piece of music dealing with the stimulus to stand by your needs..dreams...wishes...whatever it is! Don´t neglect it...face the U-turn!

 

05.05.08
""Too Much To Hold" & "Speaking Through Music" "

Jan and Nic spent two days on drowning in music...creating two new songs which really prove the chance of "Speaking Through Music"... being almost "Too Much To Hold ". The both of them were kind of struck by the way these songs appeared from nowhere forcing them to keep on composing, writing, recording, mixing them in such a short spell of time. Enjoy the results of these two very special days as a mirror of the gift Nic and Jan are sharing by this blessed collaboration. Please take your time to really face the music at its very meaning.

13.04.08
"Falling Down"

Yesterday we recorded a new song all night long...
"Falling Down"
Enjoy listening!

 

05.04.08
"Monocular are looking forward to…"

…recording new songs…
…finding a label…
…publishing the debut album…
…rehearsing with the live band…
…seeing YOU at a gig…
…touring…
…making a video for the song “Water Shape”…
…recording a second album…
…recording some songs in the house in Sweden…
…understanding at least a tiny bit of life by making music…

 

04.04.08
"Homepage"

Jan, with the awesome help of Nicolai Lebek, finished the new MONOCULAR homepage.
You can read anything about
…Jan and Nic themselves
…the live band
…gigs coming up
…the new CD
…songs, lyrics etc.
…new songs
…news in general…
and
…see some photos
…make contact
…and listen to the songs regularly!

 

02.04.08
"Looking for a label"

Jan & Nic are busy contacting labels.
In case you know anything concerning a label or you are interested in collaborating with MONOCULAR yourself, please contact us!

 

28.03.08
“Amnesia”

Amnesia, a really dark piece of art, is done.
Being one of his first songs, existing only as an instrumental for quite a while, Jan is keen on knowing what Nic will do to it today.
Nic can kind of sense what Jan was up to while creating these deeply moving soundscapes.
By means of voice and words she tries to express all the mad feelings about being damned to be alive dealing with the ever-existing “end” and “no-end” that troubles all human minds.
When the recording was done Jan and Nic kept listening to the song again and again and understood the actual madness all the better.
And that's what is recommended for this song:
Play it again and again and again very loudly!
Recently Jan and Nic started to wonder, how they have already recorded 12 songs in the course of seven weeks. They feel like sleep-walkers that suddenly wake up on top of the roof without knowing how they managed to get there…
...but enjoying the view.
Enjoying the music…that seeks the deep truth…between the lines…in the gaps between words…in the spaces between sounds…
...just “Somewhere On The Line” --
that's what their debut album will be called.

21.03.08
“Consequence”

Consequence, as a real masterpiece, is composed, recorded, mixed and mastered by Jan.
Nic struggles with finding appropriate vocals, and writing the lyrics for some days but she succeeds in finally doing so as soon as she recognizes what the strange mood of the song is all about…a story that she knows quite well!
The recording itself is done in less than an hour.
A song about a journey.

13.03.08
"Live Band"

In the meantime Jan and Nic continue to record some more songs and Jan manages to finish mixing and mastering five songs and to upload them to myspace.
A LIVE BAND is calledinto being.
Sven Kosakowski on drums and David Senf on bass join the two and complete the live band.
A first rehearsal proves that all the songs are worth being played aloud and live at MANY GORGEOUS GIGS!

08.03.08
“Black Scenes”

While Nic had to go through a “black” period of her life, Jan composed a quite comforting soundscape, called it “Black Scenes” and sent it to Nic.
She immediately and gratefully picked it up and worked on vocals and lyrics for several days. On the following recording session on a gloomy Saturday she sings it all out and unburdens herself about it - putting all the sadness into the song - with heart and soul, thinking of all the people in the world who have to go through deeply sad periods - black scenes - of their lives.
A sad but very special song.

17.2.08
“Water Shape”

Jan and Nic meet to record a new song on a snowy Sunday afternoon. The vocals are based on mere improvisation. Nic continues with what she has been singing in the car while driving to Jan's listening to the instrumental version of Water Shape…now she spontaneously creates the hookline of the song while Jan records what she does.
Both of them smiling.
A song that fell from the sky…speaking true.

03.02.08
"Two more songs: “Abandoned” & “Meanderings”"

Jan and Nic meet up again to passionately record two new songs, which have actually been taken from Nic's acoustic songs.
Jan had “monocularized” them beforehand in the most beautiful way.
Recording these two songs turns out to be complete joy and both songs feature first takes on the vocals.
Working together no longer feels like new, but rather close and essential.

27.01.08
"First meeting: “Ravenclaw”"

Jan & Nic meet for the first time at Jan's little studio in Dortmund/Germany…being strangers to each other, they immediately focus on the music and record their first song - “Ravenclaw” - rather intuitively.
They notice that they know each other quite well somehow and that music is a bridge.
The both of them are really glad to have found such a companion who is quite familiar in respects of dealing with musical emotions and working with them.

17.01.08
"First contact on MYSPACE"

Jan& Nic link their strange little worlds via Myspace and start exchanging songs and ideas …without ever having seen each other face-to-face it becomes more and more “obvious” that minds, mood, melancholy and music really do fit together.
They arrange a date for a first recording session at Jan's.

Monocular

exists since summer 2007 when Jan, enthralled by the multifarious possibilities of expression offered by electronic music, started to express his very feelings, thoughts and doubts concerning life by creating deeply enchanting soundscapes, using all his sensitivity, talent, skill and equipment.
Jan's music leads the listener to the very core of the song and its meaning itself and invites everyone to a very existential encounter with his or her own subconscious inner world.
By meeting Nic, Jan suddenly got hold of a voice to his music, a mouth to his unsaid words, a face to his vision - and discovered all the more the seriousness of his attachment to the genre itself.