Ex Voto

Elegant, yet incisive soloing from Rory Simmons’s mellow trumpet and passages of atmospheric scoring evoke distant echoes of late-period Miles Davis and Gil Evans. — BBC Music Magazine, March 2022, 4 out of 5 stars

Release Date: 12th Nov 2021
Catalogue No: WR4781
Label: Whirlwind Recordings
Length: 51 minutes

Rory Simmons: End Signs

Work length5:53

Monocled Man, Chris Montague

Rory Simmons: Przhevalsky

Work length4:26

Monocled Man, Chris Montague

Rory Simmons: Sense

Work length4:00

Monocled Man, Chris Montague

Rory Simmons: Gemstones

Work length5:15

Monocled Man, Chris Montague

Rory Simmons: Tin Skulls

Work length5:08

Monocled Man, Chris Montague

Rory Simmons: Heksen Romance

Work length6:34

Monocled Man, Chris Montague

Rory Simmons: Siler Woods, Pt. 1

Work length3:14

Monocled Man, Chris Montague

Rory Simmons: Cellarius Shores

Work length6:34

Monocled Man, Chris Montague

Rory Simmons: Natural 93

Work length4:13

Monocled Man, Chris Montague

Rory Simmons: Amongst the Machines

Work length4:55

Monocled Man, Chris Montague

Rory Simmons: Siler Woods, Pt. 2

Work length1:26

Monocled Man, Chris Montague

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Trumpeter, producer and composer Rory Simmons summons his iconoclastic musical vision on the genre-blurring Monocled Man album, 'Ex Voto'. Here, the omni-appreciative trio (Simmons, Chris Montague and Jon Scott) travel down a groove-adjacent pathway in search of solemn industrial soundscapes.

Simmons' cultural inquisitiveness forms a treasure-trove of musical touchstones, which he uses to sculpt a sound that's truly his own. 'Ex Voto' ('an offer given in order to fulfil a vow') represents another idiosyncratic journey, this time inspired by Victorian novelist Samuel Butler and his work of the same name. The themes found in both Ex Voto and Butler's magnum opus Erewhon punctuate the album, as the trio conjure visceral musical excitement from base ideas on dystopia and politics.

'Ex Voto' is an opportunity for Monocled Man to tread new ground. Close collaboration between Simmons and Scott prompted a creative shift with more emphasis on both groove and production value. "A lot of the touchstones for the record are cinematic, ambient, industrial soundscapes," Simmons explains. "I still wanted it to sound English too, whilst tipping European noir."

"I wanted to make a record that was darkly cinematic and ambient but with big washes of industrial sound," Simmons says. "I didn't want to make a record based on how I would play it live, I wanted to make something I could sculpt, and create something really original." Simmons continues to find new ground through his thought-provoking, uncategorizable music.

Rory Simmons: trumpet/flugelhorn electronics/synths

Chris Montague: electric guitar acoustic guitar

Jon Scott: drums

Reviews

March 2022

Elegant, yet incisive soloing from Rory Simmons’s mellow trumpet and passages of atmospheric scoring evoke distant echoes of late-period Miles Davis and Gil Evans.

Ex Voto

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Ex Voto

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