The Speed of Sound ○ Eight Fourteen Monday

1 Mars 2025

From CANADA •

The Speed of Sound ○ Eight Fourteen Monday

Long-serving Manchester UK Psychonauts The Speed Of Sound present 'Eight Fourteen Monday', a compelling highlight track from their mega-album trilogy 'A Cornucopia: Minerva, Victory, Bounty', released via Californian cult label Big Stir Records.

Arriving on the heels of their latest audio-visual trip - 'Permafrost', this song narrates the everyday experience of a dreary commute to explore themes of isolation, detachment, and the contrast between superficial politeness and genuine emotion, all while subtly referencing the devastating historical event of Hiroshima.

Since their formation in 1989, The Speed of Sound's music has always been idiosyncratic and counter-intuitive, in search of something new. Creating music with lyrical bite, expanding their foundation of 1960s, punk and new wave influences, their dynamic and stylistic variation crossing borders and pushing boundaries at every opportunity.

"Light and spaciously airy, the music contrasts with the imagery of a dark and gloomy early Monday Manchester morning commute. The inevitable announcements of delays and cancelations say “we would like to apologise” rather than "we apologise”; a subtle difference with a totally different meaning. Everyone is wrapped in their own thoughts and staring at their phones, retreating internally to avoid thinking about the discomfort of the journey," says frontman John Armstrong, further noting "Eighty years ago, as of August, the bomb fell above Hiroshima at eight fourteen on a Monday."

With overlapping themes of independence - both culturally and artistically - each disc of the 'A Cornucopia' trilogy has its own vibe and personality: 'Minerva' is belligerence in musical form, 'Victory' is a manifesto of artistic creativity and 'Bounty' represents the fruits of artistic freedom, all taking place far from the grasping tentacles of the ‘music industry’.

'A Cornucopia' began with the band’s own love of the album format and a determination to make long-form music rather than merely produce a conveyor belt of unrelated singles. The interlocking themes of 'A Cornucopia' are deliberately made for album listeners to enjoy, each disc being its own standalone entity while also forming part of the larger whole trinity.

Full of ambition, energy and melodic brilliance, this three-album deluxe edition is available on vinyl and CD. Beginning with the 'Minerva' album, The Speed of Sound shared a rich bouquet of thought-provoking compositions, including the hauntingly spacious 'Trickledown', the stratospherically vast 'The Great Acceleration', the uplifting 'Mind Palace' and 'West Wind', where a recklessly fast rhythm merges with a Wagnerian horn section.

The 'Victory' album then brings 14 fresh and unexpectedly shape-shifting grooves, from the supremely danceable 'Underground', the unabashed sensuality of 'Monsoon', gothic lounge jazz of 'Permafrost', the glam-rocking 'E to F', reckless garage punk punch of 'Go For It', post-nostalgia of 'The Same River' and triumphant shimmering elegance of 'Tranquility Falls' to the strangely linked pairing of 'Apocalypse Acropolis' and 'Apocalypse Metropolis'.

The ’Bounty’ album adds to this with another ten ranging from the crunching garage rock of 'No Kicks' to the haunting floating melody of 'Virtual Reality123', acoustic driven rave-up of 'Replicant' and bouncing energy of 'Artificial Paradise'.

The 'A Cornucopia' trilogy follows 2021's critically acclaimed album 'Museum Of Tomorrow'. With this release, the band returns triumphant, defiant and redemptive with this trilogy, marking their 35th anniversary. Most music is never even recorded, and most recorded music remains unheard. ‘A Cornucopia’ is a celebration of all unheard underground music and the whole counterculture itself - music made for the pleasure of making it.

‘A Cornucopia’ is out now and available everywhere, including Apple Music, Spotify and Bandcamp, Physically the full trilogy 'A Cornucopia: Minerva, Victory, Bounty' can be ordered on both CD and vinyl at https://www.thespeedofsounduk.com/shop-2

"A musical compass in a direction we should all explore" ~ Spill Magazine

“Stately, frantic, cosmic, meditative, psychedelic, charming, beguiling moods, darkly melodic, a sonic delight” ~ Blitzed Magazine

“ Some of the most fun and frantic, optimistic and lyrical, deft and dexterous songs you have heard in a while" ~ The Big Takeover

“A triumph of industry, imagination and talent, coolly novel and damned addictive” ~ Louder Than War

‘Unique and other worldly” ~ Vive Le Rock

“A form of Art-Pop that is wry, incisive, yet a deeply listenable examination of post-industrial culture” ~ Rock At Night

"Buzzing fuzz guitar lines emerge from a delicate acoustic introduction to intersect with the crashing chords and the ‘bulbous pulsing’ rhythm section" ~ Record Collector Magazine

Eight Fourteen Monday

'A Cornucopia: Minerva, Victory, Bounty'
album trilogy out now via Big Stir Records

27 February 2025

CREDITS
All songs written by John Armstrong
Recorded, Mixed and Mastered at Vibratone Sound Studio
in Manchester by Chris Guest, Adam Crossley & The Speed of Sound
John Armstrong - guitars and vocals
Ann-Marie Crowley - vocals and guitars
Kevin Roache - bass guitar
John Broadhurst - drums
Henry Armstrong - keyboards
Bob Dinn - trumpet and flugelhorn
Chris Guest - harmonium, vibraphone, organ, assorted shakers, tambourine.
Alex Armstrong - typewriter on 'Yet Another Tuesday'
‘Voices’ on 'Mind Palace': Janet Stacey Dando, Henry Armstrong,
Nick Frater, Jason Edge/The Electric Stars, John Broadhurst,
Mark Britton/Amoeba Teen, Janet Armstrong,
Louise Turner, Peter Watts & Ruth Rogers/Spygenius
and Kevin Roache, plus Ivy Frater (heartbeat).
Main sleeve image: Purple Spaceman © Lina Landers 2022
Band photographs by Shay Rowan
Publicity by Shameless Promotion PR

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