Turtle Skull

released August 28, 2020

Art As Catharsis are proud to announce the release of Turtle Skull’s second album, Monoliths – a texture-rich record that dances between bone-crushing lows and ethereal highs.

Taking inspiration from Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd and Crosby Stills Nash & Young, Turtle Skull’s blend of warped psychedelia, shattering doom and indie-rock sensibility merges into their own brand of music dubbed ‘flower doom’.

While the final product contains a faint similarity to the sounds of King Gizzard & The Lizzard Wizard, Khruangbin, or Kikagku Moyo, Monoliths is distinctively its own beast. It’s a record that heaves and soars, taking joyous compositions and steering them headfirst into a realm of fuzz and fury.

“For me this album and this band was an opportunity to take everything back to the simplest form,” says vocalist/guitarist Dean McLeod. “I’d been listening to lot of drone, heavy psych, stoner doom, ambient stuff, and one of the things that often unite these somewhat disparate genres is the extensive use of drones and ambient synths.

“This record is about the intimate connection we share with the Earth on which we stand. It’s about the world and your place in it… more

This record is about the intimate connection we share with the Earth on which we stand. It’s about the world and your place in it. It’s about looking deep inside yourself and seeing what you find. It’s about life and death and everything in between. It’s about greed, racism, colonialism and technological destruction. It’s about hopelessness and despair. It’s about self love and introspection. It’s about friendship and the power of shared experience. It’s about life-changing psychedelic journeys. It’s about connecting with the source. And most of all it’s about the pure joy of creation. We are very happy to share it with you.

We suggest you set aside some time to immerse yourself. Remove distractions, get comfortable, do what feels good to get in your zone, use your favourite speakers or headphones, and listen all the way through. Or not, it’s up to you. Either way, we made this record to accompany your journey, in any form you choose.

The bulk of this album was recorded during a week long session at La Cueva in northern NSW with some of our closest friends and family. The rest was recorded in Dan’s studio in Coogee, Sydney.

We recognise Australia as Aboriginal land. We acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which we recorded this album, the Arakwal people of the Bundjalung Nation, and the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We understand these cultures share a deep spiritual connection with the land, water, plants, animals and spirits. We pay our humble respects to ancestors and to Elders past, present and emerging.

Tobia Blefari – Percussion (congas, rain stick, shaker, tambourine)
Julian Frese – Bass, piano, vocals
Dan Frizza – Synths
Charlie Gradon – Drums, vocals
Dean McLeod – Guitars, vocals

All songs by Turtle Skull
Lyrics by Charlie Gradon, Dean McLeod & Rachel Pascall

Produced by Dan Frizza & Turtle Skull
Recorded and mixed by Dan Frizza
Mastered by Michael Lynch

Artwork by Davey Fenn
Graphic design by Jim Grimwade

Special thanks to: Lachlan Dale at Art As Catharsis, Kai Bürger at Kozmik Artifactz, Anthony Blayney at Your Mate Bookings, Nick Didia, Bernard Fanning and Ivan Lazarou at La Cueva Recording, Aedan O’Donnell, Matt Toon, Nathan Starchild, Ali Vann, and most importantly our friends, families and partners for providing us with inspiration and love.