Born of the ever-thriving Brighton alternative scene, they’ve been something of a hidden gem following 2018’s Tides EP. Held with lofty yet quiet acclaim, uttering their name is met with grins from those in the know. Still, even showing such fantastic promise, it’s likely the sheer calibre and excellence of their new EP Temple Corrupted was unexpected. Marrying the gargantuan progressiveness of hometown heroes Black Peaks with the uncanny, ominous stylings of Phoxjaw, the desolate riffs of Sugar Horse and the passion of Thrice, Temple Corrupted sounds rich, dynamic and utterly colossal. Not only is it musically phenomenal, it’s also a record of great thematic importance.
Related: El Moono – Temple Corrupted | EP Review
It doesn’t take a doctorate to understand and diagnose the lyrical themes of Temple Corrupted; it’s title plainly alludes to it. We are a sick nation, not one just ill with Covid, but one crippled with mental anguish. Not only has the scarcity of our minds been compromised, but the cultural temples we live in have been become corrupted with anxiety, fear and depression. These feelings, alongside general feelings of hopelessness, have become ingrained in our cultural DNA, and with recent talk of the cost of living rising and personal satisfaction dropping, it seems the issue is only going to get worse whilst we suffer in collective silence. It’s a grandiose subject borderline unfathomable, but one that Temple Corrupted explores and discuses with impassioned and personal articulation.
“As a band, we’re very close. We share a lot of kind of our own struggles together and we get each other through. It’s always been a very important part of our friendship, regardless of the music”, states guitarist and vocalist Jamie Haas on the origins and concept of the record. “So when we started writing Temple Corrupted just before shit hit the fan in March 2020, it really felt like the world was just no place for anyone to thrive in. We just kind of realised that the world being created is just something that just does not line up with any kind of healthy living. Mental health has always taken a backseat in this society that we’re living in. We wanted to make a record about mental health and the stigma around it. Take ‘Miseria’ for example”, he continues, in reference to the hulking track dead-centre of the record. “There we address head how the only people who have access to actual help are the wealthy. There’s a lyric in there, which is just how self care is for the rich and the poor is left to fend for itself. It’s actually one of my favourite bits of the whole record because it just cuts you. You’re just like, damn, you can’t argue with that.”
Haas continues this thoughts, reflecting upon how mental health is still a subject of great taboo for many and how the passing of generations is only just beginning to break the cycle. “I think, on a very simple note, just being really open with your kids and being really open with your friends is the best place to start. Many people say when they’re in a really dark place, they feel alone, and they feel like they have no one to talk to. But I think just starting that conversation really helps. Because it seeps down the generations like that, and parents [should be] open about their own mental health problems or their struggles with their kids and talk to them about exercising their minds. You know, our drummer Chris always says people go to the gym every week to exercise their bodies, but we never exercise our minds.”
“I think the it’s going in the right direction”, he continues. “I mean, this is the thing, this problem shouldn’t be political, but it is. And with any kind of societal problem that needs changing, generations come and they react to each generation in turn. And that’s really positive. That’s how the human race evolves, and how we get better as we learn from those mistakes. But right now, anyone can read the newspaper or step outside and talk to their friends or just look around and they can see there’s something wrong. But the pessimist in me doesn’t expect much change soon. I have a lot of hope for humanity. I just hope it’s not too late.”
The frank lyricism isn’t the only way El Moono take aim at the problem of ingrained cultural mental turmoil though. As a group of steadfast creatives, the band also use the visual side of music to approach the subject. Albeit in a more metaphorical way, granted, but one clearly represented by the album art of the record, created by the legendary Brighton artist Dan Hillier. “There’s quite a lot of imagery on the record. There’s lot of imagery with our band. And we love going deep down the rabbit hole of like metaphors,” states Haas on the visual side of the record.
“Up until this point we’ve always used my partner as the artist for our band. But we got to the pre-production and demoing stage of the record and she kind of just said [we’ve] evolved, everything about the band is now at a different level. So we needed to find new art style to represent us basically. We ended up on this search for new artists and we were literally going down all kinds of routes to find someone. And then Chris at one point said we should just ask Dan. We both own his and we’re big fans.”
“We got in touch, just emailed and sent him ‘Forced To Smile’, the track that was completed first. We kind pinged it over and said, look, here’s a little taste. If you like it, we’d love to collaborate. To our surprise, he replied that day and said he was interested. But he doesn’t really work with bands. The only bands he has worked with are Royal Blood and Architects, [bands] in a completely different ballgame to us. Obviously, we don’t have the budgets of Royal Blood and Architects and we don’t have Warner Records behind us. But we’ve got Lockjaw Records, they’re arguably better than Warner”, he laughs.
“But yeah, we didn’t go for a custom piece”, Haas continues with a genuine grin. “But what’s really lovely is the piece that we do have is one called Signal. It’s got traditional, patriarchal imagery of society, a massive mental health metaphor. Amazingly, Dan suggested it to us and he just got it straight away. He’s been amazing and collaborative. He’s such an inspiring person as well, because the way he works is so odd. Like for an artist, he does a lot of drawing in real life, like in physical drawings, but he works a lot on of computers and iPads [where he] he scans in old Victorian etchings and sketches, collaging stuff together. We’re always really drawn to weirdness in artists and we feel very, very lucky to have had him on board.”
Of course, the striking and distinctive album art is only one element of the visual aspect of Temple Corrupted. Released previously are the music videos for ‘Final Execution’ and the aforementioned ‘Forced To Smile’, two iconic videos of contrastive styles exploring the tracks lyrical themes ways that are visceral, vivid yet ultimately connected thematically. But joining the ranks today is the video for ‘Requiem’. Shot in a long abandoned and destitute AstraZenaca facility, the video was shot and directed by Phoxjaw drummer Kieran Gallop, someone of great importance in the El Moono camp, as stressed by Haas.
“We’ve known Kieran for a long time, we’ve played shows with, toured with him and are good friends with him. He’s been taking pictures of us on the road and doing some promos and stuff with us for a while, so we always knew we were going to use him for video at some point. Plus we’re friends with him, so it’s perfect. You want to collaborate with your friends and you want to have that kind of working relationship where it’s symbiotic. When we work with Kieran, it’s the same as working with Sam, our producer. We operate on this level where they’re part of the team. we’re all on the same page. We know what we’re doing when we work together.”
Whilst the visual side of Temple Corrupted animates the lyrical themes of the record in a way that’s plain to see, it’s still for the listener to imprint their own meaning into the record. What El Moono have created with this record is something tangibly emotional, not just musically, but conceptually to. It stands as an explosive decanting of the anxiety our culture and society propagates then cultivates, and one that implores the listener to shed their own bottled fears. As Haas signs off, he hopes the record comforts the listeners in the same way it’s creation comforted him.
“It’s therapy, you know? Music is therapy for all of us, wherever we are listening to it, or making it or writing about it. I think I’m personally more angry than I’ve ever been about the government, but our band is an outlet.
“We always come together as a four to create music to help ourselves, first and foremost and we get a lot of joy out of that. Something really amazing about this record is [how] we do tackle really dark topics. And there’s some parts of the record that are quite dark, but there’s been quite a lot of joyful moments making it. The amazing thing is how you can kind of go through that process of writing something really dark, getting into all these dark head spaces, and then exiting the process a much more like a fuller person than you did when you started.”
“What any musician’s hope is that we give people the feelings that we get when we listen to other bands. Hopefully it will comfort and inspire people and get people thinking the situation But I kind of hope that people take their own meanings out of this and make their own bond in their own way. I feel like we’ve created something really special. And if people like it, then that’s me absolutely over the moon.”