Monolith Cocktail Blog

Ahead of the Italian quartet’s new album Moonlit Panacea, the Monolith Cocktail premieres Dottor Pira’s video for the second single Mithra Night Soup.

Rainbow Island ‘Mithra Night Soup’
Single taken from the Moonlight Panacea album, released on the 18^th January 2023 by Riforma

In theosophical vision-scope the scattered but originally Rome based quartet of Rainbow Island conjure up another interdimensional world of mystifying crystal-lined chasms and frozen or blancmange-like landscapes pulled from fantasy playing cards, myth and the occult. Their newest album, arriving a few years after the omnivorous and warped derangement of the frazzled bubble bath Illmatrix, finds the group communing under the banner of the ‘fantastic’, ‘unfolding a snug and meditative ritual’ under a Moonlit Panacea of healing vibes.

As therapeutic as it is esoteric and strange, the album’s atmospheres, evaporations and musical mirages have been completed both online and at home by the repeating lineup of PikkioMania (analog synths and lem baby operator), Simne Donadni (pure data percussion and karplus-strong arpeggios), Lou Pappagallo (processed Vocals and endless flow) and DJ Kimchi (op1 virtuoso and semi-modular engineer). Together in this a curious world that references magical games, the mystical and paranormal concept of Tulpa manifestations and sugarcoated kingdoms, the quartet create alternate realms and play with a real sense of freedom: the destinations, goals undecided, the listener allowed to just be guided wherever the flow and direction of travel takes them. In practice this translates into the wobbled, gravity-defying strange soft lollop and spells of the almost dub-y ‘Karplusan Forest’, the obscured and foggy atavistic ethnographic sourced, bird twittering, turn piercingly fluted ‘Hidden Birubu’ and the beautifully esoteric match of Cosey Fanni Tutti, Clovvder and Dance Of The Lemmings Amon Düül II imbued ‘Marzipan Castle’. All the while Pappagallo’s Cabaret Voltaire and Xqui-like muffled, processed vocals gabble, speak in futuristic tongues and cry throughout. 

Alluding to gods in both the album title and the single video premier the Monolith Cocktail is pleased to share with you today, the Greek Panacea’s remedy for all the difficulties and ills of the world sits on the same plane as the Persian adopted Zoroastrian deity Mithra in a soundscape of primitivism, European underground tape cassette culture, the psychedelic, experimental modulations, Krautrock, futuristic folk and what’s been labeled in recent years as ‘new weird Italia’. And so for the unveiling of ‘Mithra Night Soup’, a tune, an experience of vague nuzzled sax-like floating, ringing droplets, hovering, paddled plastic tubular bass, campfire trance and rumblings and vibrations from the bowels of the Earth, presented in cartoonish comic book form with the past crumbling edifices of old civilizations and the purple cold mountain, moonlit backdrop video designed and animated by Dotter Pira. For the ones who don’t know the character, Dr. Pira is the creator of Fumetti della Gleba (the longest running Italian webcomic since the 90s, only worst quality for your eyes). He’s published several books with the major Italian editors (Feltrinelli, Rizzoli, Coconino…), different series for magazines (L’Internazionale, XL di Repubblica, Vice Magazine, Smemoranda…) and several self-published editions. His works have been exhibited at some of the most important gastronomic festivals too.

The quartet describe’s that collaboration thus: “Pira set up ‘Mithra Night Soup’ in a digital medieval land, where the gang of four characters stand around the campfire. The track is a banging dreamrecall where squared and saturated synths triggers this weirdomagique ritual. So-called “vanga dub” broken riddim and clody ambient solos beat time and draw a nocturnal scenario: Mithra Night Soup is the turning point in Moonlit Panacea’s adventures.”

Going further, they describe that peregrination with this illuminating – of further masking obfuscation – description:

“Drinking the soup by the moonlight, they did good with gentle detailing, such as capping the highlights with bold bubbles. When the warp rounded, Leela paused in revising her timeline: “I will forgive you. But I’m afraid we could lose the warp. As is our duty. If all goes according to plan, I will hold it open. Please supply me the task recommended by you. We’ll finish off the Hydra and Megotons in Graith Warp. Fence the pond so they don’t overlap and try to cross.” Leela grabbed one of the tallest rocks in the world, confidently plucking it from his power’s spectrum and scraping it onto his open revolving brightly lit plate. She sacrificed regret to maintain connection to her ears”

Moonlit Panacea is due out on the 18^th January via the Rome/Turin “screw-wave” label Riforma, so not long to wait. Until then, here is the premiered video:

Hi, my name is Dominic Valvona and I’m the Founder of the music/culture blog monolithcocktail.com For the last ten years I’ve featured and supported music, musicians and labels we love across genres from around the world that we think you’ll want to know about. No content on the site is paid for or sponsored and we only feature artists we have genuine respect for /love. If you enjoy our reviews (and we often write long, thoughtful ones), found a new artist you admire or if we have featured you or artists you represent and would like to buy us a coffee at https://ko-fi.com/monolithcocktail to say cheers for spreading the word, then that would be much appreciated.