The history of the drone is to be the focus of a new book, due to be published early next year.

Monolithic Undertow: In Search Of Sonic Oblivion, by sometime tQ scribe Harry Sword, is described by publisher White Rabbit as "a celebration of 'the drone' as it has manifested itself in music, from the first instruments created out of exotic animal bones by our Neolithic sisters and brothers to Brian Eno's ambient compositions, the towering genius of Nico, by way of La Monte Young's 'Dream House' in downtown Manhattan."

The book also takes in reference points such as Indian raga music, medieval choral music, Sardinian bagpipe symphonies, Jah Shaka, The Beatles, The Velvet Underground, and Sunn O))).

"These experiences are akin to an audio portal – a sound Tardis to silence the hum and fizz of the unceasing inner voice," the book's synopsis says. "The drone exists outside of us, but also – paradoxically – within us all; an aural expression of a universal hum we can only hope to fleetingly channel."

White Rabbit will publish Monolithic Undertow: In Search Of Sonic Oblivion in February 2021.