Last month we told you about I Woke At The Station, the forthcoming album from Logan Farmer’s Monarch Mtn. Brimming with characters locked in a lonely urban sprawl, Farmer describes the release as “an album for driving down the highway in the middle of the night under a sodium vapor glow,” the noir-ish aesthetic conveying a dreamy kind of hopelessness. “The question I really wanted to ask,” he continues, “was this: Is there dignity in desperation?”
The opener ‘Saint in Armour II’ sets the tone for the release, a slow, heartbroken shuffle like the introspective thoughts of a figure suspended in grief, the outside world sliding past in bleak monochrome. This joyless metropolis is the setting for all nine songs, what we described in our preview of single ‘Overtime in the Underworld’ as “a sad, shadowy city where numb people wander and sometimes collide.” Farmer’s triumph is capturing such a sparse, lonely place in a sound so rich. Every word and observation is imbued with melancholic meaning, every stray thought of the various sad and eccentric characters lends a certain weight, as though within their perseverance lies some noble intention.
We’re honoured to be able to share the album in its entirety a few days early, so do yourself a favour and turn out the lights, put on your headphones and descend into the dark world of Monarch Mtn.