Bingo Palace - A Monumental Thrill

Bingo Palace release date December 22, 2018

Certain things take longer. Back in 2003, when New York based Swiss duo Bingo Palace released their debut album «Whistle Me Higher», Fa Ventilato and Frank Heer were already working on a new endeavour: A concept album called «A Monumental Thrill». Their idea was to create «some sort of adventure music for couch potatoes». But in 2005, with the recordings mastered and the artwork ready for print, Bingo Palace parted ways, living on different continents, and «A Monumental Thrill» got never released.

Twelve years later, Frank Heer put an unmarked CD in his computer, wondering what was on it. He rediscovered «A Monumental Thrill»: A calm and majestic flow of music, epic, long and dark. Frank: «I listened to the whole thing, and it sounded like a freely meandering river, winding through an ancient landscape. What struck me the most was how well the music survived the past decade. In electronic pop and dance, sounds usually age very fast, because the music is composed for instant use. But ’A Monumental Thrill’ sounds completely timeless». It may have to do with the fact that Bingo Palace never cared for the latest technology and sounds. They recorded their music on home computers, using cracked software, samples, dusty synthesizers and real instruments, such as cello, electric bass or harmonica.

Frank called his former band mate Fa Ventilato and asked him, what he thought of releasing the record despite the time elapsed since, and Bingo Palace no longer being an active part on the band circus. Fa listened to the tracks and came to the same conclusion: «It would be sad if we kept this unique piece of music locked away on a hard drive in some banana box. It’s time to set it free.» The two musicians got in touch with Codek Records, the label that had released Bingo Palace’s debut album and the 12’’ «Live at The Bingo Palace». It didn’t take long to convince Sasa Crnobrnja and Alex Gloor to be on board with their idea of a digital release. Alex, who also designed the original artwork: «To us, this is like a lost and almost forgotten jewel that shines even brighter now than twelve years ago. It is a musical antidote in times of short attention spans and fast revolving trends. Slow music, if you will...» Bingo Palace is back with a new old record. It took a little longer – but it sounds even better.


https://codekrecords.bandcamp.com/alb...