At some point in time, we all look and long for some steadiness, a sense of belonging and place. But when it is there, we start realising it is not always easy or fair; it is repetitive, more of the same, day in, day out, full of responsibilities. ‘The game’ talks about that point in life when you start accepting you are part of that everydayness, part of social conformity. We somehow wanted it, we longed for it, we are part of the game now. Own it.

Not by design

The game

The Game

NOT BY DESIGN

Caught Up

David Lynch - The Night Bell With Lightning

Little Stranger (Demo)

Red Lines

L'alligatore

Will You Still Jeer?

Wired

The song describes the inner dualities that are part of our daily life; the need for being alone vs the need for attention; being happily in love vs the drain of energy, being constrained and bound...the more negative feelings are eventually repressed; we find a way to stand up, crawl back from our inside maze and ready to focus on other things. 
The bounciness of the song reflects the ups and down in our mood, energy, and needs, while the dark, laid-back voice surrenders to the inevitable

One-stop-shop

- New single ‘The game’ out now - check it out - 

Monrad is the solo moniker of Matthew Ramon. Part of a reverb-drenched, instrumental surf punk band for most of his twenties (Rencontrez l’amour - Born of punk and reverb), he only grabbed back to music when he finally settled in a rural Italian village. Loyal to a reverby guitar sound, Matthew started experimenting with other instruments, different genres, styles and sounds.

‘Musically, the songs are rock but also sort of a dark mix of surf, spaghetti western and other like minded genres. The artist contains an amalgamation of influences but definitely has a signature sound.’ (Divide and Conquer)

Many hours and nightly sessions later, supported by Filip Tanghe (recording and/or live engineering Balthazar, Warhaus), a first humble attempt, the EP ‘Monrad’, was released. Two years of nurturing and maturing his sound and finding his voice, led to the recording of his first full-length album ‘Wired’.

"Monrad moves between singing and talking, succeeding in giving the song importance and solemnity, while his seductive voice and guitars take us into a harmonic and atmospheric world: have a good trip! Recommended" (We are YMX - music blog).

After 3 years, Monrad is back with a new EP ‘Not by design’ (to be released November 2024) - six new songs building on previous releases, experimenting with synths and different musical layers. Simon Casier (Balthazar, Zimmerman) and Michiel Balcaen (Warhaus, Balthazar, Rosenahl), laid down the rhythm section of the songs in the studio.

After two years of digging deeper, nurturing and maturing his music and finding his voice, Matthew went back to Filip Tanghe and recorded, together with Bert Desmet and Gijs Coucke, his first full-length album ‘Wired’.

With a dark voice, floating somewhere between singing and parlando, propelling drums, a seductive bass and atmospheric guitars, Monrad takes you to layered territories where harmony and tension start to intertwine.

Monrad - the band

Gijs Coucke: guitar, backing vocals
Bert Desmet: Drums
Tom Peeters: Bass
Matthew Ramon: vocals, guitar, keys

Wired

Monrad

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