While singer Nad Sylvan has been busy in recent years touring with Steve Hackett performing Genesis classics, he has been fairly prolific with his solo career. Sylvan is about to release his 5th album in 10 years with ‘Monumentata’ due out on June 20th, 2025 on InsideOutMusic. The album finds Sylvan tackling more personal material than previous albums and if the first few singles are any indication, this album will be another winner from the talented singer/songwriter. We asked Sylvan a few questions about the new album.
The first few solo albums featured you as the Vampirate. Did you move away from that for this album?
Nad: “The vampirate persona is gone—I’m not interested in that anymore. I just want to show who I really am. This album is much more vulnerable. I’d say about 75% of the lyrics are directly about my life—it’s me laying everything out there, wearing my heart on my sleeve. It is deeply personal, and I think that will resonate with a lot of people. It should.”
What is your approach to songwriting for your solo albums?
Nad: “What I usually do is, very early on, I already have the melody and chords figured out—that’s one of the first steps in my songwriting process. When I’m in that early stage, I just sing a lot of gibberish—whatever sounds come out naturally. The vowel sounds, in particular, just come to me instinctively, right on the fly. So when I write the lyrics, I try to remember or listen back to the gibberish vocal track and pay attention to the vowels I used. Then, I try to write lyrics that match those sounds as closely as possible. If I’m lucky, it all comes together naturally. But sometimes, if I can’t find the right words, I have to go in a different direction. Just yesterday, I wrote and recorded a lyric, and it was fabulous—it all came together so easily.”
Do you start with a piano, guitar, or just on the computer?
Nad: “Well, for example, ‘Monte Carlo Priceless’ was an idea that sprung from me just strumming the guitar. Some songs are basically already written in my head. I mean, I know what the chords are. I know the melody and the rhythm. I just hear it. They sort of linger in inside my head for quite some time, could be up to a couple of years sometimes, or just recent stuff will emerge.
How did the track “That’s Not Me” come together?
Nad: “It’s a very heavy and aggressive song. It’s got a lot of funk in it. It’s like, James Brown meets Deep Purple. It’s a groovy, groovy song, I love that song because it’s so much of the heavier side of myself. It has Tony Levin on bass, Mirko DeMaio on drums, and the rest is all me. It’s a very, very heavy song.
“It is about being a foreigner in a country where you find it hard to adapt or conform to their ways. You know, when you’re my age, you’re pretty much set. And if you go abroad, you go to England or the States or wherever you go, you will know that they do things differently here, or they think differently than I do.”
What inspired the song “Monte Carlo Priceless”?
“‘Monte Carlo Priceless’ it’s an interesting story. The whole album is a sort of concept around my parents. I lost my mother 16 years ago, and my dad just last July. I didn’t know him that well. But that made me think—okay, so now I’m orphaned. I don’t have any parents anymore. My dad was a tennis star in the ’50s—he played in the U.S. Open, Wimbledon, Monte Carlo. And that’s where the Monte Carlo reference comes in. My mother was there with him and everything. But the song isn’t really about my parents. I was just influenced by knowing that was part of the picture back then.”
Who are some of the guest musicians you have on the album?
Nad: “Well, let’s start with the rhythm section. I have Mirko DeMaio from Flower Kings on three or four tracks. And then I have Marco Minnemann on two tracks and Felix Lehrmann, who used to be with The Flower Kings, on three. And on bass, it’s me on three or four tracks, and then it’s Nick Beggs, Tony Levin, and Jonas Reingold.
“I play all the keyboards and most guitars on this album, but when it comes to more equilibristic guitar playing, I can’t do that. So that’s David Kollar, who played on Steven Wilson’s “Detonation”. He takes it somewhere I can’t. And then I got Randy McStine on rhythm- and slide guitar. I also got Neil Whitford on electric guitar on one track, some ambient stuff. Also, I got Jade and Sheona on backing vocals on one of the tracks called “Make Somebody Proud.”. Lalle Larsson also appears with
a cameo synth solo on “Wildfire” and Joe Deninzon plays a beautiful violin solo on “I’m Stepping Out”.”
Why the title Monumentata?
Nad: “‘Monumentata’ is sort of a made up word. I lost my parents to me and knowing that they’re gone and I’m probably the next in line to go one day that’s monumental to me and “Tata” means father in Hungarian. My dad was half Hungarian. So I just combined those two words and made a new word of it.
“Monumentata,” that’s the most touching one for me, because it is about my dad and the very poor relationship we had.
We never really got to know one another, but we met a few times. Last time I met him was nine years ago and before that, briefly at Albert Hall. So it’s about losing someone and the disappointment. You’ll hear the lyrics and you’ll understand. It’s beautiful but very haunting.
‘Monumentata’ will be available as a Ltd CD Digipak (incl. bonus track), Gatefold transparent green LP & as Digital Album. Artwork was handled by Hajo Müller (Steven Wilson).
Pre-order now here: https://nadsylvanmusic.lnk.to/Monumentata-Album
Watch the video for the album’s first single “That’s Not Me” here:
The full tracklisting is as follows:
1. Secret Lover
2. That’s Not Me
3. Monte Carlo Priceless
4. Flowerland
5. Wildfire
6. Make Somebody Proud
7. I’m Stepping Out
8. Monumentata
9. Unkillable (Bonus Track)
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