MONO XL – Brown Eyes (2022)
With his single ‘Where I Belong’, MONO XL had us exploring the colourful world of his music while taking in his honest lyrics. His ability to immerse listeners in his deep and atmospheric sound continues with ‘Brown Eyes’. As you dive into the beautiful grooves of the single, he takes you on a trip through love, longing, psychedelia and nostalgia.
Balancing upliftment and melancholy, he paints the soundscape with his colourful synths. Using lyrics that make you feel alive, he tempers the euphoric bliss with a cold dose of unrequited love. As MONO XL continues to weave his retro yet modern sound through our ears, he lets us know that he is showing no signs of stopping and that there are many more colourful synth paths waiting for us in the future.
‘Brown Eyes’ builds through the opening with pulsing synths that bring MONO XL’s unique retro-modern style to the single. The steady pulse of the tones leads you down the colourful path of the track while the guitar calls out over it. The melody has a deep groove to it that has you moving to the rhythm which is soft and delicate. The richness of the music increases as the single continues with atmospheric synths wrapping around you. At times, there is a stutter to the music that shakes you out of the floating sensation created by the synths only for the guitars to sharply grab your attention. Later in the single, the music takes a turn for a more sombre feeling packed with sharp drums and darker synths that bring a sense of melancholy to the soundscape.
Against the atmospheric synths, MONO XL’s vocals bring a bittersweet tang to the single. His performance has a blissful flow as he picks up the euphoria of falling in love and the sense of being alive. This is tempered with a sadder undertone that peeks through the lyrics as you realise the love you feel is unrequited. It is a beautiful mixture of happiness and sadness that really touches your heart. The combination of sounds and emotions is beautiful and powerful as you are effortlessly drawn into the movement of the track. Through all of this, you are led to a rather catchy chorus that urges you to sing along.
MONO XL weaves a beautiful and colourful tapestry of happiness, sadness, longing and unrequited love in the retro yet modern tones of ‘Brown Eyes’. Using pulsing synths that gently take you down the colourful path of the track, he touches on the conflicting emotions of the single. His vocal performance picks up these emotions and settles them in your chest while making you want to sing to the chorus.
Find out more about MONO XL on his website, Instagram and Spotify.
