If MILANKU draws its origins from the work of Milan Kundera, the soundtrack is definitely more on the side of the thundering density of the being than of its “unbearable lightness”, galvanized by the Czech author. Following 5 years of absence, Milanku finally unveils a brand new single entitled “À l’aube; de leurs silences” (“In the dawn; of their silences”), which is an eleven-minute, slow, post-metal piece full of angst. This single is the first from the band’s upcoming fifth album “À l’aube”, which will be made available on March 31st, 2023, and today we’re thrilled to premiere it in its full glory, with the official visualizer above.
Milanku comments on the album: “The song yearns to satisfy, through a sequence of ambient arrangements, the sometimes melancholic and other times rougher disconnect we all suffer from. It is a big opening number for this post-rock-shoegaze 5 piece whose upcoming album is poignant, intense, and heavily influenced by the emotions of despair and loneliness brought on by the pandemic. We think that fans will be happy, our first single is for them and is over 10 minutes of typical Milanku “mind travel” music.”
When it comes to writing, the music is normally built before the lyrics. Then the lyrics and vocals are composed and placed on the songs. They are very much influenced by the process of creating music. The result is the music presented with an intense emotional show accompanied by a slew of imagery. A performance filled with intensity and the feeling of pleasure shown by the band members from playing on stage.
This album has been four years in the making, and the band expects that it will be very well received. Sad, heavy, and melancholic, Milanku is heavily influenced by post-metal, hardcore, and crust. They are recommended listening for fans of Mogwai, GYBE!, and Neurosis.
In additional news, Milanku will be performing in Québec City on February 17, 2023, at the Pantoum during the Phoque OFF Festival. More info can be found here.
Album and Live Band Lineup: François Lemieux (Guitar, Synthesizer), Carl Ruest (Guitar, Vocals), Guillaume Chamberland (Bass, Vocals), Guillaume Boudreau-Monty (Drums), Jean-François Bourbonnais (Guitar).
Milanku by Alexandra Stairs
From the start, Milanku hammers out its brutal character, infused with melancholy, even dystopia, and standing straight upright on the wire: defiant, shouting, and inspired.
Mesmerized by the warrior’s rage, flayed by its own doldrums, the quartet relies on pared-down arrangements and an oft-staged vocal presence, harmonizing like an instrument, and howling at the big time, but plastered with a disquieting sense of dilettante.
At the heart of the enterprise, tearing off the peels of flapping skins, we explore the state of affairs of the contemporary genre, tragic, desolate, where any notion of common sense seems diffuse in the amalgam of trompe-l’oeil. The texts are meditative, inquisitive and the observations that emanate from them, weep and persist in trying to make sense of it, through its ever-growing losses of illusion.
With four full-length releases behind them, both in Canada (D7I Records, Désordre Ordonné, L’oeil du Tigre), and abroad (Tokyo Jupiter Records (Japan), Moments of Collapse (Germany), Replenish Records (USA), GS production records (Russia), We are Grain of Sand (Russia) Alerta-Antifascista, Milanku presents today À l’aube (Folivora, 2023), a five-track burn that breathes new life into a caste of disenfranchised people, imbued with a disarming lucidity, and gives itself a framework and a voice to pull its head out of the swamp.
International recognition
The band has been affiliated with several; indie labels and distributors over the years, namely: in Canada (D7I Records, Désordre Ordonné, L’oeil du Tigre), Jupiter Records (Japan), Moments of Collapse (Germany), Replenish Records (USA), GS production records (Russia), We are Grain of Sand (Russia) as well as Alerta-Antifascista (Germany).
In 2016, the band will continue to tour Europe, visiting the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Austria.
The band’s albums have been consistently recognized at the GAMIQ since 2013 in addition to jumping on a plethora of specialized year-end lists around the globe.
“The slowness of the post-hardcore of Milanku or the erasure of the world.” – Weirdsound.net
