THE MONOCHROME SET - Lotus Bridge

Forty-six years have passed since the first Monochrome Set album, but good old Bid shows no sign of giving in to the ever-pleasant lure of nostalgia. Whimsical and poetic, the English band's music has lost none of that unpredictability which, while preventing the band from cashing in on greater commercial success, has also preserved the very qualities that fans find utterly irresistible.

Where the previous "Allhallowtide" focused more on musical structure and a rather regal harmonic elegance, the new "Lotus Bridge" leans more towards cinematic and theatrical narrative. The songs are surreal digressions on the decline of civilization, a collection of allegorical, contemplative tales that Bid has woven together from dreams and reflections.

The album opens with a blend of Spanish-tinged and deceptively country–western sounds on the title track, a slightly grotesque introduction that the poignant "Diaphanous" instantly dissolves, with a melody of refined character and an arrangement built around strings and piano that upends the narrative line. 

Ganesh "Bid" Seshadri presses on, indifferent to any purely aesthetic function, describing characters and situations that could almost be called psychedelic, moving between stories where humour and anxiety travel on the same track ("The Abominations Of Hubert"), and others tinged with a hint of mystery and noir romanticism ("Arcadia"). What remains constant is an almost literary quality, pairing the verbosity of some compositions with an equally polished musicality ("Map Of The Night Sky").

"Lotus Bridge" is a record crafted down to the smallest detail, seemingly bare-bones yet rich in details and instrumental flourishes that stay at the margins, creating a quasi-orchestral effect, with piano and acoustic guitar guiding dazed, psychedelic and cheekily audacious folk songs ("Athanatoi").

The seductive ballad "Our Sweet Soul" and the splendid melodic and rhythmic nonchalance of "Jenny Greenlocks" confirm that the much-cited echoes of the Smiths were well founded: these two tracks are perfect specimens of that magic which Morrissey and Marr have long since stopped being able to capture.

This is not an easy album, and a fleeting listen will undoubtedly push many towards near-instant dismissal, but the stubborn and the perplexed alike will readily appreciate yet another display of the consistency and creative ease that Monochrome Set have been dispensing for nearly five decades.

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07/04/2026