monta

monta is the one-man project of tobias kuhn, formerly singer of miles. He does have a life before monta, besides monta and after monta but monta makes up the centre of it - the bottom line of his musical labour. monta can be tender as a whistle or roaring like thunder, from homly living rooms to a stage somewhere on the globe.



after the ep "always altamont", the highly acclaimed first longplayer "where circles begin" had been released worldwide and made it to album of the week of the sunday times (uk) and the single "i'm sorry" can still be heard as theme song of the japanese counterpart to cnn news. now there's a new single "good morning stranger" and a new album - "the brilliant masses"!



brilliant indeed: a collection of eleven songs which ask for careful listening and instantaneously stare into your eyes. in a language often enciphered and metaphorical yet clearly coherent and radiant as a lighthouse. songs who can alienate people and at the same time spend warmth.



with awareness and luminosity kuhn sums up the things and thoughts that motivate him and get him going. the song titles themselves make up the synopsis: love, estrangement, doubt, certainty, home, getting along, trust, disappointment, capitulation, achievement, loneliness, bliss and the never-ending search. over and over and over again. again and again packed in those awesome melodies which let the world shine in a different light for a moment or a little longer.



monta has grown up, also he has been on tour for quite a while and got lots of positive feedback and made lots of friends on the many shows he's played thus far - whether solo or with a continually changing number of great musicians. monta got high rankings in lots of reader and listener charts yet in between there's always the often deflating and painful 'homecoming' process - having to face the things one's neglected, that still have to get done, with yourself and with the 'brilliant masses'.



The result is a nearly disturbingly authentic piece, recorded here and there in between klagenfurt / austria and munich / germany. sometimes all by himself, at times with longtime companions and produced by the artist himself in close cooperation with herwig "fuzzman" zamernik.



"the brilliant masses" is going to be released on monta's own label labelmate in coop with viennese klein records. And that's where we're at the beginning of the text again - as for the story of a man who likes to take matters into his own hands