Photo by Philip Reeds
Monokino (the project of Dutch rock-pop composer George van Wetering) shares a brand new single entitled “Baby.” The track’s accompanying visual, created by George himself, is made entirely of ASCII characters and has a stylistic kind of retro-futurism perfectly befitting of Monokino’s sound. “Baby” itself is a heart-pounding stomper, provoking images of a high-speed chase a la Ryan Gosling’s Drive — think 90s garage psych meets 80s art-rock, drenched in fuzz and exploding in synthetic sound.
Speaking on the sonic inspiration for the track, George wrote: “The music for ‘Baby’ came about after someone said that, musically, I might want too much in my songs and I should stick with a simple chord progression. Of course, I didn’t agree and, in protest, I started making a song with only 1 bass note. That soon got boring and a different bass and guitar riff was created when I stepped on my distortion pedal. I never actually sang in this kind of talking voice on that pitch — but I imagined myself driving in a racing car, singing ‘Baby’ in this Billy Idol kind of way.”
With the lyrics loosely inspired by a personal experience, George continued on the song’s thematic basis: “Although the song seems to be about someone who is no longer the one and only for someone — and suffers from that — it is actually about myself who, a while back, was never enough for someone who actually claimed that I was her one and only. She often wanted to be alone, but when I was gone, it was not good either. Some days I was too feminine, other days just too masculine. People like Billy, in a speeding car, would have let go a long time ago already, for sure.”
Having built a significant following in Asia and North America, Monokino has continued to develop his chameleonic approach to music and art. Incorporating elements of pop, indie, rock and electro, he has cultivated a diverse, explorative style of alternative pop music. Monokino has been a frequent participant in China’s ever growing music festival industry, and his talent has enabled him to showcase his unique pop music around the world: from China’s Strawberry Festival to SXSW in Austin, Texas. Monokino collaborated with renowned artists and producers including Tony Visconti and Jacco Gardner.
“Baby” follows Monokino’s 2021 singles, “Your Underground,” “Bend or Break,” and “No Return,” all taken from his forthcoming third album (expected later in 2022). All singles received attention from blogs worldwide, with plays from the late Janice Long on BBC Radio and all major Dutch and American stations.
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