Mone: Darling, Thief

(Self Launched)

Obtain / Streaming

Out Now

Berlin-based singer-songwriter Mone has simply launched her second album, the powerfully, lo-fi and sometimes fragile Darling, Thief.

The Dutch-born artist has beforehand been referred to as the lovechild of Fiona Apple and Tom Waits for her uncooked, emotional songs and distinctive vocal sound. Rooted in people music however there’s a particular affect from different artists, from Nina Simone and Leonard Cohen to The Dresden Dolls and Kate Bush. The singer arrived on the ‘darkish people’ scene in Berlin in 2019 after returning to the Netherlands to finish Artwork College and swiftly grew to become a part of The Well-known Gold Watch Data Collective, based by Common producer-composer Cameron James Laing.

Her debut album, Crocodile Kisses, launched in 2021, chronicled the ups and downs of a passionate relationship. It acquired many plaudits, describing it as ‘an unapologetic and highly effective debut album from a daring, distinctive and craftful artist’. This album is extra outward-looking, taking into consideration others’ relationships; written in the course of the pandemic and recorded in 2022.

Darling Thief is, as I say, a strong, lo-fi piece. It’s oozing with a delicate and comforting darkish sensuality which pulls you in. It’s alluring but often unsettling, possessing you as you get misplaced in her voice. The playful, opening observe, Dandelion with its jazzy construction which seems like the results of a visit (of which sort I can’t say) with Ms Guðmundsdóttir and the aforementioned Ms Bush. The vocals skip alongside, flitting between sung and spoken. The primary time I heard it I actually wasn’t positive what to make of it however now it feels just like the opening of the door into Mone’s world, pulling you in. It’s an outlier when listened to the remainder of the album but it’s completely positioned, there may be nothing else prefer it right here.

After the playfulness of the opening observe The Final Time I Beloved You is extra ‘conventional’ as is the album’s title observe, Darling Thief. The latter is a haunting and melancholic ballad. Mone sings with a fragile and weak tone, her voice itself changing into an instrument, underpinned by a ‘easy’ piano and strings association. Even these these are extra easy songs they’re the aural equal of seeing one thing from the nook of your eye. I can think about watching her carry out however being drawn to one thing left of centre.

Kuku and Untouchable comply with, each with very primary instrumentation permitting the artist to specific all emotion by her vocals. On the threat of repeating myself, the power and great thing about this album lay inside the vocals and the way they’re positioned; the customarily sparse accompaniment permits them to take centre stage, which means her fascinating and expressive supply can breathe. Mone strikes effortlessly from delicate whispers to uncooked emotion conveying the depth of the emotions and experiences. Her lyrics are sometimes private, Love Is A Chilly Place for instance places her as a voyeur, watching a failing relationship.

One of many highlights of the album is Daniel, a tune she says about, “somebody I used to know whose eyes regarded very drained. Our contact was at all times transient however very candy and heartwarming. I at all times questioned what he had been by that made him that means”.
That is sandwiched between the shortest observe on the album, Fruits Of My Labour, simply shy of two minutes, and the longest, the closing observe, Stunning Little Factor which is over 6. The latter she says is one in all her favourites to play reside.

Like many an excellent album, Darling, Thief does make you’re employed. It’s not ‘prompt’, and there are various layers. The extra you pay attention the extra rewarding it’s, regardless of leaving you feeling there may be nonetheless a thriller and one thing just a little unknown, which is sweet.

Not solely one in all my highlights of 2023 however of the present decade to this point. Her socials ask the query, ‘Who’s Mone’? To try to discover some solutions I spoke to the artist herself. You’ll find that interview, in addition to a playlist she put collectively solely for Louder Than Struggle containing the albums influences and in addition contempory Berlin-based artists right here

You may also discover Mone on Fb, Instagram and at her web site

All phrases by Iain Key. See his creator profile right here or discover him on X (Twitter) as @iainkey