{"product_id":"monastic-love-songs","title":"Monastic Love Songs","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eMonastic Love Songs\u003c\/em\u003e is the debut solo album by the Red River Dialect songwriter. Recorded at the Hotel2Tango, Montreal, by Howard Bilerman, the album features \u003cstrong\u003eThor Harris\u003c\/strong\u003e (Swans, Thor and Friends, Shearwater) on drums and Thierry Amar (GYBE!, ASMZ) on bass, with guest appearances from Tom Relleen (RIP) (Tomaga, Melos Kalpa), Catrin Vincent (Another Sky) and Coral Rose (The Silver Field, Red River Dialect).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eMonastic Love Songs\u003c\/em\u003e continues the tradition that David has established over the course of five albums with Red River Dialect. The album uses a song cycle to articulate a relationship with inner and outer landscapes, inspired by the Taoist approach of observing the movement of the heavens in order to understand the cosmos within, and vice versa.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe joyful closing track \"\u003cem\u003eInner Smile\u003c\/em\u003e\" was initially written as a poem of thanks to his Tai Chi teacher Hollis and takes its name from a Taoist practice. The songs on the album were written during the final weeks of a nine-month retreat at Gampo Abbey, a Buddhist monastery in Nova Scotia where David took ordination as a Buddhist monk.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe album title is sincere, with a little tongue-in-cheek. The songs mostly explore human relationships within the community, with outliers: \"\u003cem\u003eGone Beyond\u003c\/em\u003e\" shimmers with cosmic devotion, in \"\u003cem\u003eRhododendron\u003c\/em\u003e\" a reverie grows from the shadow of a flower. \"\u003cem\u003eSteadfast\u003c\/em\u003e\" concerns the love to be found beyond the urge to like and be liked, when you can’t avoid that difficult person.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eDavid considers this album to be a follow up to 2015’s \"\u003cem\u003eTender Gold and Gentle Blue\u003c\/em\u003e\". The cover of that LP featured an image of him on top of Skellig Michael, in the years before the island was made famous as the home of the Jedi. He considers the visit to that abandoned Celtic monastic site to be one of the influences that stirred up his motivation. \"\u003cem\u003eSkeleton Key\u003c\/em\u003e\" speaks of what was given up to go, and what he was giving up to leave, referencing the Tibetan concept of the ‘bardo of becoming’.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Hinterground Recordings","offers":[{"title":"Black | LP","offer_id":50465826767179,"sku":"1116099","price":22.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50465827062091,"sku":"1116098","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/188896f2-301d-4faf-baa6-bc38df28983f_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727297114","url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/de\/products\/monastic-love-songs","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}