Monolink releases his third studio album, The Beauty Of It All, today via Embassy One, a record that deepens his reputation as one of the few artists able to merge live instrumentation, songwriting and electronic production into something singular. Across ten tracks, the Berlin-based musician offers an intimate journey that thrives on contrast: restraint and release, folk sensibilities and cinematic sound design, memory and discovery.
The album opens with Call of the Void, a ballad about the collapse of a relationship. Its stripped-down arrangement and powerful synths find beauty in the full spectrum of emotion, not just the moments we label as positive. From there, the mood shifts into Perfect World, co-written with Severin Kantereit, which trades four-to-the-floor rhythms for broken beats inspired by UK garage. “I wrote the lyrics one morning in a café in Hamburg, watching people rushing to work, distracted by their phones — including myself,” Monolink recalls.
On Powerful Play, he reconnects with the acoustic guitar, echoing his early years covering Bob Dylan songs on Berlin’s streets while discovering house and techno at night. That hybrid energy resurfaces in Avalanche, a track born between the Swiss Alps and a studio jam with Toby Siebert on a Juno 60, and in the raw one-take recording of In My Place, alive with unfiltered energy.
The record’s centrepiece might be Mesmerized, built around an analogue kick pulse and layered with guitar and soaring vocals. “It may be my favourite song I’ve ever made,” he admits. Elsewhere, Promised Land channels the psychedelic experimentation of Pink Floyd, while Beacon strips things back to piano and folk textures, carrying a quiet hopefulness. Phoenix resurrects a sketch first written in Portugal, transformed years later into a fully realised piece. The closing track, Once I Understood, begins like a Beatles-inspired lullaby before bending into something uniquely his own: tender, existential and resolute.
The last time we spoke with Monolink was a few months ago, when he released Your River with Sam Shure, a track that showcased his collaborative spirit and sonic openness. Today, with The Beauty Of It All, he pivots back inward, distilling those same instincts into a deeply personal, resonant body of work. “This album is less about spectacle and more about resonance,” he reflects.
Alongside the release, Monolink is set to embark on an extensive European tour this autumn, with stops in Vienna, London, Paris and Milan, among others. Spanish fans will have two opportunities to catch him live in October: Barcelona, Razzmatazz (October 28) and Madrid, La Riviera (October 30). Tickets and the full list of tour dates are available here https://mono.link/ .