It’s probably comes without saying at this point that Monol!th have shrouded their online presence in anonymity.
After all, it increasingly seems a novelty when a new artist appears who is willing to be photographed, or offer at least put a name to theirthe music.
In this case, however, the sense of anonymity – as well as the isolation and darkness it in turn implies – is perfectly matched to the atmosphere exuded on Monol!th’s debut EP Pyramid.
What we do know of Salt Lake City native Monol!th is that they produce some of the most bleakly fragile electronic music I’ve personally heard in a while. Combining the kind of whining, grainy drones that formed the title track of Liars’ surprise change of direction WIXIW, with carefully constructed tenorion bloops, the sounds on Pyramid seem forever on the verge of drifting apart.
It’s surprising then that Pyramid manages to use these to explore a variety of possibilities and ideas. Just take the naïvely romantic chimes of ‘Hibernation’, and compare them to the surprisingly organic drones and whirs of ‘Rotary Engine’, or just-shy-of-danceable organs on ‘M9’. Listening to the record from start to finish is akin to dipping in and out of a number of different nighttime soundscapes, each connected in spirit but offering a different experience.
Oh and their Bandcamp page takes the whole obscurity trend to new heights, putting black text on a black background in a way that hides that fact you can actually download the EP.
Bet that was intentional.
Kids these days.
[bandcamp width=350 height=725 album=2309229336 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=63b2cc]