Mon Rayon’s lovely debut album Image Repertoire brings together an affection for classic pop songwriting and carefully arranged orchestration across the Swedish duo’s debut album, coming from creators Mon Rayon. Josef Ask and Christoffer Zetterlund produced the 12-track collection themselves, with Roland Barthes’ ideas about memory and perception providing a thematic thread throughout.
“Shadow Of You” opens the album with a sweepingly consuming string-forward mystique, crafting an elegantly melodic pull. “One of a Kind” follows with stylish rock appeal, complemented by the serenely alluring lead of Vira Milton in building to the “you are so one of a kind” smitten chorus, adorned with jubilant brass and vibrant strings in building a timeless-sounding pop appeal. The project’s knack for more dramatic orchestration appears in the ensuing bridge, followed by Milton’s gripping “thoughts of you and me…” introspection. The album’s opening one-two punch quickly showcases a knack for stylish enthrallment, from the opener’s delicate strings to the duet-ing classic pop power of “One of a Kind.”
Elsewhere, “Pale Memory” continues the delectable vintage-sounding character in its interplay of illuminated keys and dynamic guitars, spanning from steady strums to psychedelic warbles. “Honey you don’t even know that you’ve been on my mind,” lush phrasing lets out into gorgeous brass and an ensuing hookiness, where the caressing brass, hypnotic keys, and warming delivery converge into a dash of organs. The ensuing “Alaró” unveils the band’s more introspective capacities, with a patiently traversing rhythm section melding with a performance aspiring for one “to remember those days on the playground,” combining that starry-eyed retrospection with moving harmonic backings and a western-y folk twanginess.
Album centerpiece “All the Living” consumes in its twangy guitar prowess as well, also featuring striking vocal harmonies that stir in their depictions of “looking for someone to hold.” The lyricism captures a desire for closeness and affection, while also recognizing one’s own patterns, in turn resulting in wondering if you’re better off left alone. The shifts between self-doubt and “looking for someone to hold” compel alongside the heartfelt guitar twangs and hypnotic harmonic layers. That track is also exemplary of the inspiration from Barthes’ concept of the ‘image-repertoire’ — the belief that “we carry around internal collections of images, memories, fantasies, cultural references, and emotional associations through which we understand people.” Intertwining self-doubt and recognition of personal patterns renders a portrait of internal friction, illustrating how our mental imagery shapes the search for connection.
A hazy folk sound shines on another highlight in “5AM,” aptly titled considering its early-morning atmospheric appeal of beautifully lethargic and hopeful lyrical perspectives of “the other side.” Similar in vibe, album finale “Like Rain” ponders how “some feelings grow, some fade away” while equating them to the temporary presence of rain. “I know you wanted me to stay, to recover from the rain,” mellow delivery leads into calming brass and organ complements, admitting “it was better with you were here” with heart-aching allure. Delighting in its affirmation of life and its many moments, within consistently melodic and timeless rock and pop productions, Image Repertoire is an enveloping full-length success from Mon Rayon.
