I Monster are an English electronic music duo, composed of the Sheffield-based record producers Dean Thomas Honer and Jarrod Nicholas Gosling. Best known for their songs "Who Is She?" and "Daydream in Blue", both of which appeared on their 2003 album Neveroddoreven, they have also produced records for acts such as The Human League and HK119, and worked on a documentary about the origins of electronic music.

I Monster and its label Twins of Evil are both named after horror films starring Peter Cushing (I, Monster and Twins of Evil).

Early life

Gosling played in a rock band called Candy Paige as a teenager.

Honer left school at 16 and moved to Sheffield shortly after, began producing music and joined numerous bands. In 1990, he opened Neptune studio, a recording studio, together with Duncan Wheat. Early influences included early Warp Records releases, Fad Gadget and Blancmange. They were already making techno music akin of Aphex Twin, Autechre and Black Dog After being evicted from Neptune studio in 2001, Honer set up Bowling Green studio, where he has been situated since.

Neveroddoreven (2003–2008)

In 2003, I Monster returned with their second album Neveroddoreven. The original artwork featuring a skull was created by Gosling under the pseudonym of Varrod Goblink. The duo embarked on a tour after the release, joined by Marion Benoist and Fred de Fred of The Lovers. According to the group, the label mishandled some of the release strategy, leading to them leaving.

October 2012 saw the duo releasing two albums, Rare and Remixed, both composed of bonus tracks and rarities from "Neveroddoreven".

In 2013, they released a collection of songs that didn't make it onto A Dense Swarm of Ancient Stars under the name of Swarf.

2013 also saw the release of I Monster Presents People Soup, an album heavily featuring a fictional band entirely consisting of female singers over more pop-oriented instrumentation.

Bright Sparks documentary (2015–2016)

Bright Sparks, a two hour-long documentary, produced by I Monster and Dave Spiers of GForce, about the origins and pioneers of electronic music, was released in 2015, joined later by an accompanying album of the same title in 2016. The feature documentary contains numerous interviews with instrument designers and musicians. The first half of the movie, called "A Side", focuses on US inventors, while the "B Side" features British innovators. Interviewees include Adrian Utley, Daniel Miller, Billy Currie, Karl Hyde, Alessandro Cortini, Will Gregory and many more.

The album Bright Sparks consists of eight songs paying tribute to different innovators of electronic music, including but not limited to Robert Moog, Herbert Deutsch, Ken Freeman, Don Buchla, Harry Chamberlin and Alan R. Pearlman among many others.

Bright Sparks Instrumental, an instrumental version of the album, was released on 19 July 2016 on the group's Bandcamp site. Included on this album is a preview track for Bright Sparks Volume Two. In 2018, he started a new project with Will Goddard, called Frogman. Their entire output was exclusively released on cassette tapes. The music was created as a soundtrack to a fictional TV series, featuring spoken word written by Goddard and recorded by HK119, Russell Senior, Richard Speight and Terry O'Connor.

In 2020, Honer formed yet another group, Another New Thing, with Don Himlin and Paul Nagle, releasing their debut album XYZZY in 2021 via Dipped In Gold.

Gosling

Gosling too is part of multiple music projects besides I Monster. The acid folk band Cobalt Chapel consists of him (exclusively on organ) and Cecilia Fage, a London based singer and clarinettist. Creative influences include horror films Valerie and Her Week of Wonders and The Stepford Wives. They released their selftitled debut in 2017. This was followed by Mountain in 2018 and Orange Synthetic in 2021.

Gosling has released multiple progressive rock albums under the alias of Regal Worm. Regal Worm released their first album Use and Ornament in 2013. Gosling was planning his sophomore effort Klara Till Slutet while still finishing Use and Ornament. "It was going to be a concept album" Gosling told in an interview, but it got scrapped. Some of the songs written for Klara Till Slutet were released as part of Dissecting The Worm and Sausages, two EPs which came out later in 2013. 2015 saw the release of Neither Use Nor Ornament, the sophomore studio album by Regal Worm. Pig Views, the final installment of his initial trilogy, came out in 2018. Regal Worm's fourth album The Hideous Goblink was released in 2021. Their sound has been described as a mix of "Canterbury, Psychedelia, Space Rock, Zeuhl and the Rock in Opposition movement". Gosling himself called the Regal Worm output "a continuation of [I Monster], but channeled through a more progressive rock and psychedelic style rather than electronic pop".

Discography

Studio albums

  • 1999 — These Are Our Children
  • 2003 — Neveroddoreven
  • 2009 — A Dense Swarm of Ancient Stars
  • 2013 — People Soup
  • 2016 — Bright Sparks
  • 2017 — A Dollop Of HP

EPs

  • 2009 — Dear John EP
  • 2021 — Monsters of the Deep (Inspired by 'The Outlaw Ocean' a book by Ian Urbina)

Instrumental albums

  • 2016 — Bright Sparks Instrumental

Compilation albums

  • 2012 — Rare
  • 2012 — Remixed
  • 2013 — Swarf
  • 2024 — Neveroddoreven Redux

Singles

  • 2001 — "Daydream in Blue"
  • 2006 — "As Long as There Is You and Me"
  • 2009 — "Lust for a Vampyr Part 1"
  • 2009 — "Lust for a Vampyr Part 2"
  • 2010 — "Only A Show"
  • 2021 — "A Short Song About Snow"
  • 2022 — "The Living Dead"
  • 2023 — "The Weather"
  • 2024 — "The Desert"
  • 2024 — "Won't Give Your Love"
  • 2024 — "Return of the Blue Wrath"

Production Credits

Production by I Monster, noted if otherwise.

{| class="wikitable"

|+

!Release

!Year

!Artist(s)

!Notes

|-

|...Baby One More Time

|1999

|Britney Spears

|Production on Track 12 "The Beat Goes On" by Honer as part of The All Seeing I

|-

|The Art Of Chill 6

|2009

|Various Artists

|DJ mix

|-

|Credo

|rowspan=2|2011

|The Human League

|

|-

|Pocket Handkerchief Lane

|Kevin Pearce

|Production by Honer

|-

|Matthew Hopkins and the Wormhole

|2013

|Kevin Pearce

|Co-production by Honer

|-

|}

The duo's music has featured in movies such as Shaun of the Dead, Riders (Steal) and Endorphine.

Daydream in Blue featured on the soundtrack of Mr. Robot Season 2 Episode 1 called "eps2.0_unm4sk-pt1.tc" and on the soundtrack of Severance Season 1 Episode 2 called "Half Loop".

References