Monti Korbelle Releases ‘Mount Moon’.
Written by: Sarah Evangelista
After his debut album, Global Carbon Tax Economy, Monti Korbelle has recently released his new album Mount Moon.
His new project is quite different from his debut, but it really shows how experimental he wanted to be with this one. Speaking of harder topics, and speaking of the importance of reaching out during tough times, Monti doesn’t fail.
Can’t wait to see what he does next!
How different was the creative process for 'Mount Moon' compared to the first album?
Ideas can be dangerous. I used to be thrilled by that— captivated. There was no way any idea could effect me emotionally; at least that's what I thought. I believed I was strong-minded, many people do, but a damper on my emotions was the least of my worries. It was my own personality that I allowed to slip away from me without notice. Strangley enough, Covid-19 rescued me from this. Except I fear that it will be Covid-19 that may trigger people to fall down the same patterns of mental torment that I did; or in other words, what rescued me might have cursed others. My first album was called "Global Carbon Tax Economy." It was a conspiracy theory album. It's quite embarrassing to talk about this time in my life as it was the worst mental health I have ever had. I was obsessed with knowing everything— a pseudo-intellectual, if you will. I wanted to be a pseudo-professor more intelligent than the actual professors— somebody who knew the actual truth the elites attempted to hide. I even started combing my hair and wearing glasses with button-down shirts to fit this image I had of myself. At the time, I was obsessed with gathering as much information as I could from podcasts; I spent many hours each day doing this. What I noticed about myself when I learned something, usually conspiracy related, is I would feel mind-blown, which is a feeling I attempted to convert into music for my first album, "Global Carbon Tax Economy." However, it took me more than a year to realize that I was becoming mentally ill. When Covid-19 was first introduced, conspiracy theories were almost immediate, and that really creeped me out. This was a virus we knew nothing about, but there were so many people who were so sure that they already knew everything about it. That really scared me. After that, I decided to never look at the news again. It may sound silly— to be anti-infornation as I am, but if it's what can help me regain my mental health, then it's the only option. Through this process, I did a lot of digging inside myself to learn more about who I truly am. That’s what my second album, "Mount Moon," is— the remnants of what I discovered during this time of recovery.
Which tracks were the easiest and hardest to create off of this project?
Facing your inner-demons is the most difficult task to endure. I've summitted a mountain, and doing that, though it took me all day to complete, was easier than looking within. Creating my song "Smoking Weed and Watching Anime" was by far the easiest song to make. The lyrics, as one may be able to tell from the title, are mindless BS. The production was effortless. It's a song that I aimed to have a pop sound with catchy melodies, and currently the song has more streams by ten-times than any other song on the album. There is a lesson in that maybe. Through this process of creating, there is a process of self-discovery. There likely is some truth that exists somewhere within the track "Smoking Weed and Watching Anime," since this is the track people seem to be latching onto most. The most difficult track for me to create was the closing song, "Buried." After forty-five minutes of listening to me scream about how I want to kill myself, one would think the album would end with resolve, especially with tracks towards the end like "Find a New Direction" and "Somehow" where I speak on how I wish to straighten out my life. But instead, I end the album with "Buried," a song that says "bury it inside, let me hide," on and album about unbottling all that I've previously bottled up. Unfortunately, life isn't a movie. This album is raw. The narrative hurts. And while some people are lucky enough to find happiness after facing their demons, for others it might take more work and effort. If somebody struggles with depression, I believe a simple-success story will make that person feel worse if they follow the same path only to end up with less desirable results. I was one with less desirable results, so I chose to be honest about that. Music exists for the sake of connection anyway. I apologize for not having all of the answers for how to find happiness, but the journey isn't always simple.
What does the title 'Mount Moon' mean to you?
After I finished my first album, Global Carbon Tax Economy, my girlfriend told me she hated it. She told me to quit music and move onto something else. When I refused, she suggested maybe we would be better off breaking up. This went on for months, and it's easy to imagine the type of depression I experienced. Music is my passion— my life, and the person closest to me couldn't validate that for me. It hurt. Things have improved, but it still hurts. It's one of those pains that is hard to shake from. I found myself with no motivation to make music and I instead just played Pokémon. I played a lot of Pokémon. There's a location in the game, Mt. Moon it's called, that I remember first visiting when playing the game as a six-year-old. The games are made for kids, but I had a pretty hard time finding my way through the maze of Mt. Moon when I was six, which in the game exists as a cave below a mountain. I asked my dad to help me, this was many years before he died of suicide. He wasn't a gamer by any means, but he was able to get me out of the maze to get me onto the next city. It's funny the random memories a person keeps of ones who pass. I remember him telling me Zubat, a Pokémon that is common in the Mt. Moon location, was his favorite Pokémon. I remember telling him that was stupid. By no means is my album, "Mount Moon," an album dedicated to my father who died of suicide, especially considering how fond I am of suicide in the album. Instead, it is two things. It's called "Mount Moon" as an omage and also as my fan-art for an important piece of my childhood. For example, "Place Under the Mountain" is dedicated to my favorite Pokémon, Clefairy, which is found in the Mt. Moon location of the game. "Found One Potion" is based on an action that occurs in the game. Since Pokémon has its own anime, we can include "Smoking Weed and Watching Anime" in this category. But the second reason is, "Mount Moon" is a metaphor. In the game, you would think a location called Mt. Moon would be a mountain, but instead it is a cave below the mountain. This is an introspective album where I find myself looking deep within. If the body is the part that everybody sees— the mountain, then what's below that is our emotions, fears, shame— the cave below the mountain. And sometimes with exploration comes things you'd rather not find, such as feelings of suicide. I could have avoided this topic, but that would have went against my goal for the album, and that is to look at everything that exists below the mountain, even if what is found isn't pleasant.
Who are your favourite artists right now?
I am keeping a very close watch on Oklou; she's absolutely my favorite and she currently only has an EP out. If you want to take a journey to a paradise, listen to Oklou's EP called Galore (I have on repeat quite a few times, but you don't have to go that far.) I wish I could be a "cool-guy" version of Oklou; I just look up to her that much. She's livestreamed some of her production techniques and it was minblowing to find out most of what she did was recorded on a cheap MacBook with mostly free plugins. She does everything with such grace and it's really laudable. There's nothing comparable in my opinion to what Oklou does, since in a sense she has created her own genre, and there are times I will listen to her 11-song EP and find myself reaching tears. Otherwise, I'm loving the unique variety of music that comes from Elephant Heart, Gabriel Garzón-Montano, and Holly Herndon. I'm essentially a lifelong fan of hip-hop as well so I'm going to include Sa-Roc, Ashilee Ashilee, and Th1rt3en as part of my list of music I absolutely love right now. Some honorable mentions currently on my rotation would be Gestalt, Hunnybunny, Novo Amor, Christina Jones, River Tiber, and James Chatburn.
Connect with Monti Korbelle: Instagram