Straight Outta Bandcamp is a regular feature on BDCwire that digs up solid recent releases from various artists in the wild Internet dreamland known as Bandcamp. A bit too much time spent tag-surfing the bandcamp pages of rockers near and far can yield extremely enjoyable results. Luckily, we’re here to share our discoveries with you.
Anyone who has been keeping in tune with obscure dream pop over the past few years know that Canada is the hotbed for such acts. With figures like Mac DeMarco and Grimes leading the charge in two very different ways, other acts have received their proper attention, one of them being Halifax natives Monomyth.
This past Tuesday, the quartet from up north released its debut full-length, “Saturnalia Regalia!,” on Mint Records. The album is an extension of the band’s self-titled 2012 EP, graduating from bleached out lo-fi, but retaining a krauty haze, similar to cohorts like Each Other or Freak Heat Waves. The band’s latest also drifts into poppier territories, building songs upwards from infectious riffs, as in the record’s single, “Candleholder.” It’s pop with a peculiar twist, though. Harkening back to the bubblegum harmonies of The Zombies or Tommy James, Monomyth takes those ideas and warps them into something a bit chewier (maybe even taking a page out of the book of local darlings Krill on “Theme From Monomyth”). The result is something warm and reverby, but with a distinct and engaging structure to build upon. “Saturnalia Regailia!” can now be streamed in full on Monomyth’s bandcamp page. You can also purchase physical copies at Mint Records.
