The album "Stranger Things" (2022) by Petr Mamonov & Zvukov Mu.

Dunno (2022) - is the last studio album of the band "Sounds of Moo", released in 2022 after the death of the producer and the lead singer of the band - Petr Nikolaevich Mamonov. It consists of two parts and contains a total of 18 compositions. Genre: jazz, psychedelic rock.

On the Fuzz Music channel we already released a video on the anniversary of Peter Mamonov's death. The fans wept, and the news feeds quoted his "last words" with excitement. His wife often complained that none of the artist's friends even bothered to provide the slightest material assistance: it came to the point that Olga Mamonova paid her own money to put a monument on the grave of her deserted husband - something her widow admitted in an interview on the anniversary of his death.

July 15, 2022 is not just a collection of raw works, but a full-length album by Mamonov's band, Sounds of Moo, called "The Dunno."! The musicians and Peter's only manager, his wife Olga, did not sit idly by and finished the last "creative outburst" of the epathetic hero of the 90s. The album is really finished, with its logical structure and Mamonov's crowning metaphorical messages.

About the meaning of the album

In fact, the album "Stranger Things" combined all the genres that Peter Nikolayevich Mamonov was fond of: Russian acid jazz, newfangled dark folk, and, of course, psychedelic rock! As it seems, Mamonov I especially have a soft spot for musical psychedelicsIn his own words, he repeatedly admitted that he was always in search of a unique genre role. But he never had time to fully reveal himself in it, and that's a pity...

As the members of Groupe Mou report, "Neznayka" is not just a big collection of songs that Mamonov didn't finish or that he just didn't want to publish. On the contrary, all the compositions are the result of his creative search for almost 10 years! The songs were recorded and put away in a hidden box, especially dear to Pyotr Nikolayevich's heart. Call it what you want, but we believe that it was the publication of these songs that the author was so afraid of, and it was what he dreamed of... Whatever it was, the recording was finally completed by 2020Some of the compositions Mamonov even performed at his concerts - it was not only a nice bonus for visitors, but also a kind of "running-in" material before its release.

Interesting facts

Of course, all of the songs presented were recorded with a new lineup called Totally New Sounds Moo. Why they chose an old band name for the album release is not clear. But one cannot deny that the sound of the album has a very young and in many ways eccentric coloring, and the profound verses and bright choruses will please even those who are not at all familiar with the works of Pyotr Mamonov.

Interestingly, from a formal point of view, "Stranger Things" is not Mamonov's most recent project. The release of compositions from his unfinished collection "How I Read Isaac the Syrian." is dated much later, but it so happened that a kind of bequest of Pyotr Nikolayevich was the album with the name of the work of Nikolai Nosov.

What is the main message of the album? It is difficult to determine unambiguously, because in all of Mamonov's work there is an avant-garde and creative confusion. Each composition contains a metaphor, an author's message and a kind of moral teaching. But attentive listeners immediately noticed a particularly poignant theme, raised by the musician since his early work - the theme of little people, the composition of little and weak peopleor rather, a little man, in an evil and aggressive world. It is possible that he took this idea from Christian teachings and his own personal religious speculations...

As Mamonov's relatives confess, all his life he rushed from one extreme to another. He would gather whole stadiums and concert halls, or he would become almost not hermit. Pyotr Nikolayevich tried his hand at cinema, but did it so peculiarly that even old fans were amazed at the audacity and epatage of the events on the screen with Mamonov.

About some of the songs on the album

The album "Dunno" consists of two parts. Some of the songs are the author's quotation of Nikolai Nosov with musical accompaniment, and many are sort of detached from the thematic direction of the album. In general, we can say that the album is quite heavy and even evoking sad memories: for example, the songs "Fly Away" and "Bonobo" in general can plunge the listener into incredible nostalgia, taking his thoughts far beyond reality. So many feelings and memories of the author himself are invested in these compositions that you cease to wonder why Peter was reluctant to release them until the very last. After all, it is precisely such memories that make up the spiritual depth of any person - the experience of the lived experience is superimposed on the feeling of the world, and that unique image is created, which we appreciate in the people around us. And even short people like Know-Nothing have such an image...

I would like to pay special attention to the song "Girls". Peter Mamonov in the monotonous phrases "girls need..." does not just talk about the basic female needs for male attention... He talks about the essence of female nature, showing its underside to the male part of the audience. The upbeat jazz music sets the mood for seriousness and allows you to fully immerse yourself in the message the author is trying to convey: "girls need her to forget her grief." If all young people acted according to the inimitable Mamonov's precepts, maybe there would be a lot more romance in our world. The song itself lasts more than eleven minutes, but it does not bore you at all, but gives you a full "drown" in yourself - just in the best traditions of psychedelic music, which Mamonov so respected during his lifetime.

The audience also liked the composition called "Nikolai. The guitar accompaniment in the style of Quentin Tarantino films literally recreates the line of the dramedy invented by Mamonov. The last song of the album is about a fictional character Nikolai, and in the last minutes the author even admits that it is a fairy tale. We won't share any spoilers about the relationship between the sheriff and his old outlaw friend, who meet at a fateful moment. But we will definitely recommend listening to the song several times in a row to understand what kind of friendship Mamonov was really dreaming about. And this fabulous Nikolai was closer to him than all the so-called friends during his life, who did not even support the artist's family after his death...

Testament of Peter Mamonov

The second ten tracks open with songs about the fairytale town of Know-Nothing, with the unchanging quotation. Why was "Know-Nothing" chosen? Here's what Mamonov himself said about it back in the pre-release state of the album:

"I collect vinyl records. So I started collecting Soviet speech records on 10-inch vinyl. I came across a radio version of 'The Adventures of Know-Nothing' and I realized - it's about our life!

Pyotr Nikolayevich does not talk about it openly in any of the songs on the album, but the idea he is trying to convey is very complicated and so commonplace at the same time. Unfamiliar is trying to draw his friends, trying all night, but in the morning no one likes his unorthodox work. Know-Nothing tries to make up poems about the other guys, but no one can understand that his "fiction for the sake of rhyme" is not only quite acceptable to creative people, but even sounds great. No one can understand... This is what happens to all "little people," whose creative potential and inner world turn out to be much wider than the consciousness of an ordinary person, much richer than the commonplace, filled with anger and contempt for any deviation from the so-called "norm.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jowuu3oz1gE

This is the main tragedy of Peter Nikolayevich Mamonov's life. He finds hundreds and thousands of fans all over Russia, but is still afraid of being misunderstood and unheard. He gathers concert halls and vigorously "freaks out" at every performance, but he is afraid of the evil and cold contempt. But his spiritual strength and inner confidence tell one of the main musical avant-gardists of the post-Soviet era: you have to keep working. Searching himself day and night, teaching people a lot, showing them how limited the world around them is. Don't feel sorry for yourself, forget about commerce, and constantly express yourself. Otherwise, the little man inside will never find peace of mind...