One of the electronic scene’s true mavericks, UK artist Russian Linesman, returns to unveil the first in a remarkable new six part series of ‘Monomyth’ EPs focused on the art of storytelling, which will be published under the label Loki Recordings. As with his previous 2017 project, ‘The Eysenck Suites I-IV’, this “modern day composer” has been inspired by psychological theory in the creation of his latest enthralling musical collages.
“I’m fascinated by the idea that everybody has a good story or novel in them. I have spent two and a half years going back and interviewing various people I’ve met during my life, and listened as they shared their stories. Each song has been composed with the relevant stage of the Hero’s Journey (the Monomyth) in mind and accompanied by one of these fascinating collected stories.” – Russian Linesman
Joseph Campbell’s ‘A Hero with a Thousand Faces’ is an analysis of centuries of human storytelling, based around the anthropological theories of Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, and this fascinating book provided the blueprint for the new Russian Linesman project – an artistic abstraction of the concept of the ‘Monomyth’ – a formula we are all familiar with in modern day films and books.
In narratology and comparative mythology, the ‘Monomyth’, or the Hero’s Journey, is the common template of a broad category of storytelling that involves a hero who goes on an adventure, and in a decisive crisis wins a victory, then comes home changed or transformed.
Each song within the Russian Linesman’s ‘Monomyth’ episodes (the project will be released in its entirety over the next year at bi-monthly intervals) is named after the relevant part of the hero’s journey and has been accompanied by unique, complex compositions that combine a multitude of diverse collected instrumentation and field recordings to fit the mood of the storytelling. Most storytellers remain anonymous, retaining an abstract element to the process and allowing the listener’s curiosity to be uniquely aroused and be drawn into each different story as it unfolds.
“This project quickly developed a life of its own and all the individual stories twisted into a patchwork of yarns that tell an even greater story than I could have ever told on my own. In ‘Star Wars’, the droids make all the space opera weirdness accessible. My droids are my storytellers, my narrators. Placing some of the stranger musical moments within reach of the more casual listener. A hero is only as great as their villain. This project is a proper human interest story.” – Russian Linesman
We are presenting the second track, ‘Refusal Of The Call’.
‘Monomyth I – The Departure’ EP will be available after the 8th of November HERE.
