Bell Monks

Bell Monks song list for Big Bay

Bell Monks song list for Big Bay

bandcamp facebook-3 Bell Monks is music for the fog on nights that stretch into dawns, combining simple humming lines with swirling textures.

The band is a collaboration with composer/ music technologist Eric Sheffield. Generally, Eric does all the drums and guitars, I do the vocals and keyboards, and we share writing and recording duties. A number of guest musicians have worked with us, including a few who have worked with us on multiple occasions: Heidi E. Johnson (vocals), Ben Willis (contrabass), Trevor Saint (glockenspiel), and Gregory Taylor (remixes).

In 2010 we released Lullabies, an album nearly 5 years in the making.

Throughout 2011, we recorded and released a 2-track album each month, almost 2 hours of original songs. We collected our favorite tracks into 2012’s Let The Waves Carry Us, along with an second disc of remixes by some really cool electronic musicians. The disc was named one of Madison’s 10 best local releases in 2012.

In 2013, we released a joint covers EP with SK Pierce entitled A Better Light.

We joined Wren & Shark Record Collective, an independent not-for-profit record label run by Brian Cassidy (Okkervil River), and then in Winter 2016 released Big Bay, which we recorded in Northern Michigan in summer 2013 and slowly edited over a couple of years.

An all-instrumental release through clang records includes our good friend, Gregory Taylor.

Here’s a cool video by Bill Miller that uses Gregory Taylor’s Remix of Witching Hour, Called Whirling Halves:

After many years of methodical work, we released The Sun Will Find You, our first full-length album with vocals since 2012’s Let The Waves Carry Us.

Here’s our video for All My Life, from The Sun Will Find You: