MonkeyTrial are Shaun Bailey and Clive Mollart (a member of the exceptional Third Quadrant – see my review of their Universal Circles by clicking on the button below), alongside guests Nick Raybould (percussion) and Chris Hare (percussion and electronics). They are certainly very prolific and rightly have a positive reputation in the British prog scene, gaining a fair bit of airplay on Progzilla Radio, including my show of 25th June when I raved about the track I played, Dark Seas.
Their latest opus is Dark Skies, and of the five pieces on offer, three are epic length, so something certainly for progheads to get excited by. You can obtain digital and physical copy at https://monkeytrial.bandcamp.com/album/dark-skies Should you do so? Well, let’s debate.
We kick off with the title track, and this is just shy of fourteen minutes of music, so absolutely no shortage of positive intent whatsoever. The opening passage is classic Floydian prog, a slow burner tickling our aural palettes, full of keyboards and effects setting the scene, the guitar strumming beneath, a delicate bass melody, the drums and percussion purveying a jazz core, before a ghostly guitar takes over. This first third is absolutely at the forefront of a track which I think is a very strong contender for my “instrumental of 2025” award at year end. As we progress into the middle passage, it takes a more dystopian turn, not industrial, as such, but certainly putting you in mind of darkness, the keys insistent, the guitars thumping and disturbing, a psych soundscape which explodes as we move into the final third, hugely impressive. My very good friend, The Prog Rogue, in his excellent review of this album rightly referred to the inherent humanity, non-mechanical sound at the core of this wonderful piece of music which has the most beautiful fade. It is embedded below for you. Put your feet up, grab a drinkie, turn up the volume, and enjoy.
This is followed by Embraced by the Rain. It is longer, just shy of fifteen minutes. A female voice provides a spoken narrative of a fleeting gift, so soft, so bold, the synths creating an achingly lovely soundscape above it. You envisage standing in the rain, perhaps where such an event is rare, arms open, staring into the sky, the beating water creating its own melody, a moment of transient spirituality and wonder, a melody of life itself. Electronic music as descriptor, not coldness. The move into the mid-section is dominated by guitar chords and a wonderful bassline, the percussion building a jazz sensibility into the mix, guitars creating the transcendence of the recipient of a momentous personal story, at the core, an electronica foundation, drifting, but never aimlessly, instead with an urgency, the guitars always on hand to add that rock rush. Superb, an epic to satisfy the most diehard of progressive music nuts.
I mentioned above that I recently played Dark Seas, and it is embedded below for you. I just adore the bass work at the start of this, the use of that instrument to create an atmosphere, the percussion so insistent, taking you back to classic psych, the guitar above it combining with synths to lift the listener, as if you are being transported in a fast moving object parallel to the sea, before the whole thing explodes in an orgy of noise, a storm hitting the traveller, something to be survived, the aftermath breathless, but oddly beautiful as well, drinking in the experience of life itself, the ebbs and flows incorporated in the slide guitar.
Time Ships follows, and it is the third epic, again not far short of fifteen minutes. Prog heaven, my friends! It is another epic where the opening passage burns so slowly, but with this one, I detect more than a hint of Americana in the duo’s intent, something wildly different adding to the eclecticism of the whole. By this time, the album has taken complete control of your senses. You are lost, in a maelstrom, and don’t particularly want to exit as the synths wash over you in such a majestic fashion, but it creeps up on you without really noticing until it’s too late. When the wash fades, and we get lulls of guitar rushes and gentler keys, a robotic voice teasing you of the perilous ticking of the seconds, you are lost in the infinity of space, endlessly wondering, but without fear or tears, forgetting such trivialities, a classic rock sensibility asserting itself as we move to the close, thumping, nodding, taking you with it. You don’t really have much of a choice.
We close with Rotor, which has a gorgeous guitar lead over the core synths and 80’s style drum machine. The narration talks about sacred geometry, background music walking towards something out of reach, and hopeful beginnings. It is mysterious, it is another piece that draws you into a parallel musical universe, a very clever blend of warm electronica and orchestral progressive rock, utterly beguiling, some of the finest bass guitar work you will hear in 2025, the drums and synths growing ever louder and compelling, the blades taking you away, the church bells wanting to bring you back.
What an album this is. Stunning. A creation so unlike anything you will hear all year and one of those works which demand individual interpretations, personal appreciation, but, above all, collective respect.
Brilliant.
Essential.
End of.