Name: Fabula Mendax
Brand: The Monochrome Set

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

TR449LP

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Colour

Black

Colour details

Discogs ID

Format multiplier

Download code

Download code: No

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format

Extended format: No

Format detail

Format Music GB

Limited edition

Release date

2019-09-27

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier GB

Shellshock

Tax rate GB

Standard:20

UPC / Barcode

4015698460803

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Total Cap

1 / Extended format: No / LP / Rough Trade Exclusive: No / Signed copies: No / black

TR449

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4015698267082

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1 / CD / Extended format: No / Rough Trade Exclusive: No / Signed copies: No

Artist

The Monochrome Set

Genre GB

New Wave / Post Punk

Label GB

Tapete

Albums of the Year - 2019

Welcome to Tapete, an independent record label based in Hamburg, Germany. Founded in 2002 by Gunther Buskies and Dirk Darmstaedter, Tapete has become a prominent force in the music industry. With a diverse roster of talented artists and performers, we strive to bring you the best in music across various genres.

At Tapete, we are passionate about supporting emerging talent and providing a platform for them to showcase their artistry. Our dedication to quality and innovation has earned us a reputation as a trusted source for exceptional music.

With our *labelcode* LC 12227, we offer an extensive catalog of releases that span multiple formats. From vinyl records to CDs and digital downloads, we ensure that you can enjoy your favorite music in the format that suits you best.

The Monochrome Set formed in 1978 and were influential in the post-punk scene. They released albums on various labels, including Virgin offshoot DinDisc and Cherry Red Records. After splitting in 1985, they reunited multiple times for live gigs and studio recordings. In 2010, the band reformed full time and has since toured extensively worldwide while releasing new studio albums. Currently signed to German label Tapete Records, they celebrated their 40th anniversary in 2018 with a global tour and a box set compilation of their work up until 1985. In 2020, another compilation box set was released covering their output from the 1990-1995 period.

We have always loved the Monochrome Set at Rough Trade - from the label releasing their early records to seeing them play all through their career, so we are incredibly pleased to be sharing with the band their new album on Dark Green Vinyl. It is also one of their best ever releases. 

At the end of the 70s, The Monochrome Set were part of the first wave of 'post punk' bands. Right from the beginning, the band earned a solid reputation as purveyors of fine pop, gaining praise from 80s contemporaries such as Morrissey and Edwyn Collins. Importantly, in later years this praise has continued with artists such as Franz Ferdinand, The Divine Comedy and Graham Coxon, all citing the band as a key influence on their own work.

The Monochrome Set sound has often been described as 'timeless', and that alone explains why, over the years, the band has continued gaining admirers. Fabula Mendax is based on manuscripts written in the 15th Century by Armande de Pange, a companion of Jehanne d'Arc (Joan of Arc). Follow Armande as she flees her unhinged family, only to be caught up in the chaos of The Hundred Years' War. She encounters and trails the enigmatic Joan, later becoming a part of her expanding group of followers. As they travel west into the war zone of Northern France, they meet a motley medley of scheming noblewomen, bellicose knights, nefarious bishops, and assorted rotters, rogues and renegades.

This is The Monochrome Set at its most ornate, and, much like Joan of Arc's ensemble, features a myriad of fiddlers, pluckers, beaters, tinklers and wailers, surrounding a central core of notorious crackpots. The hauntingly melodic pop harks back to the early TMS period of Eine Symphonie Des Grauens, but is now complemented by a (periodically unemployed) vampire's orchestra, whose cha-cha-charnel chiming careens into carnal rhyming chanting, while saints and demons trip lightly across the slick red fields of liberty.

Fabula Mendax

Music GB

Buy The Monochrome Set - Fabula Mendax (Vinyl, CD) now from Rough Trade - independent purveyors of great music, since 1976.