We previously covered the upcoming release of StartTheMonkey‘s Urban Psyche, set to be released on May 5th, 2023 through Electric Talon Records. We have asked the band to answer some questions and tell us more about this new album.
First of all, welcome to our website. Thank you for accepting our invitation and being here with us today.
Good evening, we thank you for the invitation. It is our pleasure to be here.
The first question is the most obvious one. How did Urban Psyche come about?
So as soon as we released the EP the pandemic struck and it was a hard time for us. We had started composing the album without a singer, later on, is when Iasonas came into our group who took on the vocals and the flute to complete the composition of the album. He to overwriting the lyrics, influenced by the situation that everybody was going through during the pandemic.
There is quite a time gap between Urban Psyche and your first EP, The Start Of The Monkey.
Urban Psyche di StartTheMonkey
As we have already mentioned above, Urban Psyche was recorded during the pandemic, which gave us a few problems. The album was nearly ready we only needed to record it, to find a label company which is Electric Tallon Records, and we would like to thank them for all the support and help that they have given us. The whole situation took us back a couple of years, but now we are here and ready.
Urban Psyche is an album shrouded in deep pessimism, almost a sense of oppression from living in a society that, in a way, fits “tight”.
Yes, Urban Psyche is deeply pessimistic the whole theme of the album is around how one feels in a metropolis, it explores all the negative and sometimes repressed emotions of the average man. It’s our way of letting go of our own such emotions, a catharsis if you may.
The song The Cave, for which a video has also been released, made me think in some ways of another cave, the one mentioned in Plato’s philosophy. In that case too, as in the song, the only obstacle to freedom is ourselves.
The Cave of Plato was an inspiration for the metaphor of the cave in the song, and we just looked at it from a more psychological point of view. And from another point of view it’s our own incapability to escape from our own thoughts and feelings.
The monkeys in the video are a clear reference to your name, as well as a transposition of the human race.
Exactly, the human race is the evolution of the monkey.
Why does the cave in the video end up transforming into what looks like a laboratory? Is there a specific reason for this?
StartTheMonkey
With the video, we want to put focus on the situation in which the world lived through and live through. We are guinea pigs and they do experiments on us. The reason that we go back to the lab, it’s that we don’t need a key to open the door toward freedom. We just need to wake up and not tolerate what is happening, each one of us should be free to fight for our rights. That is the message we want to pass on.
And what about the Plague Doctor? What can you tell us about this character?
The plague doctor is the one who does the experiments to find the cure for the disease that broke out, but without the consent of the monkeys. He’s a comparison of the doctors during the Black Plague.
Less than a month remains until the album’s release. What will happen next? Do you have any live shows or tours planned?
The album will be released on May the 5th through Electronic Tallon Records. At this moment we are organizing a few lives for the fall, one might say a small tour.
Is there a specific place where you would like to bring your music?
We don’t discriminate as to where we want to release the album, we want to broadcast it around the world.
We have come to the end of this interview. Do you want to leave a message for our readers, and in particular for the Italian audience?
We would like to give our thanks once again for your hospitality, to thank the Italian crowd for their support that we have gotten, and we hope one day to come and play our music on Italian ground. Let’s StartTheMonkey again.
