Swedish duo Mon Rayon have released their new collaboration single “One Of A Kind”, featuring Vira Milton.
Equal parts soaring strings and 1960s French pop, “One Of A Kind” features gorgeously-layered vocals to create a full, rich, immaculately produced sound. The single is also the first glimpse the duo has released to drum up interest in their upcoming debut album.
The influences for “One Of A Kind” aren’t hard to spot, with its Minnie Riperton-esque orchestral bombast, Nick Drake-style melancholy, and early Eros Ramazzotti pop stylings. The addition of Vira Milton’s soaring vocals only adds to the baroque lushness and melodic grandeur of the track.
“Our core idea from the beginning is that [the music] should feel alive. That we play together, that the playing is real. That it should sound organic in some way – that’s probably the idea we’ve embraced most strongly from orchestral pop,” says Mon Rayon vocalist Josef Ask.
“It’s hard to explain to people what you do when they don’t have the same frame of reference as we do,” says Christoffer Zetterlund, the other half of Mon Rayon. “If you say you’re baroque pop, people don’t understand anything. So they label you as an indie band, and that’s that.”
If there’s one thing Mon Rayon isn’t afraid of, it’s being pop artists. Much like the entire pantheon of Swedish pop greats, to be pop isn’t something lesser or shameful, but an ideal in and of itself. If big, sophisticated pop music if your thing, then Mon Rayon are definitely a duo to watch out for.
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