Monad is the dream-pop project of Tel-Aviv based artist & producer Eshchar Nachmany, who blends palpitating electronics, otherworldly echoes and shoegazey guitars into his own brand of multicoloured psychedelia.
Monad began its musical journey in an isolated house in the countryside, with Esh building his own studio from scratch; remodelling and modifying broken tape machines and synthesisers to construct layers of dreamy soundscapes. From that insular space Monad has released 2 EP’s so far, 2018’s s/t and 2020’s ‘Dissolution’.
His latest release, ‘Light In An Empty Room’, saw him pursue more of those tantalising ideals he has been cultivating since he first emerged, capturing a rich tapestry of sweeping elegance and progressive ideals, synonymous with the “Monad sound” of late.
Hi, Monad! Great to chat. First of all, how are you doing and where in the world are you right now?
Hiya, I’m good! Just got back home (Tel Aviv) after a short mini-tour in the UK. Excited to get back to work in the studio, came back with lots of ideas.
Your recently dropped single ‘Light In An Empty Room’ is your first release of the year. How has it felt putting this out?
How does it feel putting music out? Hmmm. There are a lot of conflicting feelings at once. I’m happy to be able to play this song for people and to share something I’ve been thinking about for a long time. I’m also excited to have this song out in the world and have people interact with it and read into it in different ways than I would’ve thought – there’s also something a little scary about letting go of something that’s important to you and that only belonged to you for a while, but I guess if it’s scary it means you’re doing something right no? It has to feel like taking a risk.
You’ve said that one of the inspirations for the track was Edward Hopper’s painting ‘Sun In An Empty Room’. Could you go into a bit more detail about that?
In the tail-end of the COVID lockdowns I was part of a workshop led by the brilliant Robin Pecknold, where I was introduced to the concept of ‘Ekphrasis’ – which means in the most simple sense the use of one medium of art to relate to another medium. I’ve always loved Hopper, ‘Sun in An Empty Room’ is one of my favourite Hopper pieces and I’ve always found it inspiring so I decided to try and use it for a song as a writing exercise and thus this song was born.
Regarding future releases, can we expect more of the same art-inspired themes from your upcoming material?
Well, since I also make most of the visual art for Monad I think that’s pretty hard (for me) to separate the two anyway. So I think that’s a yes.
Your music is heavily centred around the shoegaze and psychedelic dream-pop genres. How did you find yourself within these genres initially, and where did your musical journey begin?
I just want to say that I think of them as pop songs, or at least I’m writing them as pop songs, and dreampop, shoegaze or any other genre people feel they might fit in is just the palette I find the most exciting when it comes to production. When you listen to an MBV song for example first and foremost I think they’re excellent songwriters, and then there’s this all aesthetic, production, sound side to it which is excellent on its own, but without a good song underneath it never sticks with you, you know what I mean? And to answer your question more directly: I was never really aware of dreampop or shoegaze until a chance meeting with Alex Ayuli (of A.R Kane, dreampop pioneers and the man who is believed to have coined the term ‘dreampop’) at a Parquet Courts show in Primavera Sound 2016, a meeting which pretty much changed my musical life completely and sent me on the path I’m on today. I doubt he remembers it but thank you Alex!
Which other musical artists do you mainly take your inspiration from?
I’m a huge fan of Dave Fridamnn’s work, for his creative and mind-bending way of using sound and the studio as an instrument. Off the top of my head I’d also mention Broadcast, Portishead, Carole King, Matti Caspi, Todd Rundgren and lately I’ve been really into the BBC Radiophonic Workshop’s extensive work – there are some wild things in there.
You’re currently based in Tel-Aviv. Did you grow up there? How has your upbringing influenced your artistic approach?
No, I grew up in a Kibbutz in the countryside.
I can’t think of anything specific in my upbringing that has influenced my artistic approach apart from the fact that I feel more comfortable writing music close to nature, but I think that’s true for a lot of people with very different upbringings than me.
In terms of evolving, where do you see your musical abilities taking you in the future? Is there any other genres or areas you’d like to dabble in?
Right now I’m mostly interested in putting out the best songs I can, ask me again after I have a debut LP out and maybe I’ll be wiser! Although I do have a secret dream of putting out a shoegaze-jungle 180 bpm EP.
What about any upcoming releases… Is there an EP or album on the horizon?
Another single planned for the end of this summer, working on a debut full length.
Photo by Tamir Moosh
