The thing with creating such vivid worlds is that their confines are vague and distant, and Monarch Mtn’s noir metropolis is crammed with stories yet untold. Which is perhaps why, mere months later, Farmer is back with days of sleepwater, a brand new record that is every bit as darkly atmospheric as its predecessor. However, to say the album is a direct continuation would be misleading. There is a distinctive change in the spirit of the music here, days of sleepwater seeking out space and autonomy as though reacting to the suffocating oppression that marked I Woke At The Station.

Take for instance the slow and considered first track ‘canyon blues’, Naarah Strokosch’s cello bringing an air of elegant sorrow as it saws sombre against a backdrop of subtle percussion. As on I Woke At The Station, the lyrics bristle with desperation and implicit violence, though while the previous songs felt as though they were careering toward these emotions, ‘canyon blues’ is more of a retreat or escape—leaving the dense tangle of civilisation for something more open and free.

“Highway 1 like a cancer in my mind
Scattered ashes on the sheets
I’m too nervous to be happy all the time
Hope you never get scared of me”

Follow-up ‘trick of the light’ is a sparse and candle-lit croon, Farmer’s velvety vocals unfurling across barely-there guitar and snaking sax, while, in comparison, ‘no embrace’ sounds rich and graceful, a song about being isolated as the world ignites in celebration or disaster. “Fell asleep with headphones on,” Farmer sings, “as royal city burned / Not for me, this other man’s concerns.” The result is sad and strangely isolated, synths like an angelic choir adding a gravitas to an otherwise ordinary scene, dispatches from a dark and lonely room illuminated only by the light of the 24 hour news on the TV.

Cello again winds itself across ‘the glow’, a stripped-back acoustic song, before the eight-plus minute epic ‘iron sphere’ unfurls patiently from a quiet artificial dawn, ending eventually with sci-fi synths that bring an ominous air. The track is fraught with guilt and loss, and the synthetic nature of its close carries its own dread, as though the characters within are overtaken by some great pressing force as penance for past actions, or perhaps emancipation from the forces that held them.

The strangeness carries over onto ‘on the stone’, its weird dreamy blurriness presenting open spaces which the ghosts of Farmer’s characters haunt, before closing track ‘bedlam goes quiet’ presents what is perhaps the strongest narrative of all—a series of images bathed in neon and shadow.

Bedlam goes quiet
And she leaves the bed
Beer in the shadows
With a Texaco attendant

She drives all night
Just to clear her head
Nearing Montana
A wild dog’s spirit

Rises from the earth
Finds the traveller
Carrying her load with tired limbs
There is no wrong that time forgives

There was a sense of inevitability about I Woke At The Station. Every scene and interaction eventually lead to death and destruction, its inhabitants moving with the vaguely depraved self-interest that is the cultural logic of such a space. The world of days of sleepwater is no lighter, but Farmer’s interpretation of and reaction to the atmosphere signals a change. Darkness breeds darkness, and allowed to fester can become a self-perpetuating thing that metastazises unto ubiquity. Here, Monarch Mtn do not pretend that suffering is abating, or can be dispelled by a mere shift in perspective, but rather choose to fight the phenomenon. days of sleepwater exists to fight the creeping dark, and not embrace it.

days of sleepwater is out now and you can get it from the Monarch Mtn Bandcamp page.

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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.

The post Album Premiere: Monarch Mtn – I Woke At The Station appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Opener ‘Easter’ sets the tone for the album, sounding slow and melancholy but also somehow not, hitting a reflective but hopeful note. The breathy and patient vocals deliver lyrics which seemingly detail a mutually dependent relationship, “You need me, you stole the skip in my step / I think I know when you smile at me, and I can’t feel my toes, even if I’m empty”. ‘October’ starts sad and simmers until it lights up bright-white, becoming a crashing, epic finale. The lyrics here hark back to nicer times:

“October
I remember when we met
the things you once had said to me
when our skin was cooled
and how we felt at ease”

The following track, ‘Felt’, feels like the morning after the storm, coming across as a mix of Typhoon’s expansive indie rock and Manchester Orchestra’s slower emotive moments. “Things will be alright, I tell you every night”, O’Neil sings, “I should open my eyes when you doubt me,
you’re probably right”. ‘Grow’ is soft and patient, open spaces between the lines filled with just the doleful bubble of guitar. The lyrics are dark and desperate, but the whole thing comes together (almost in spite of itself) into something stirring when the background vocals join O’Neil’s. The sound shifts into almost post-rock territory on ‘Paper’, building and building with thick emotion and a marching drum beat, eventually hitting a heavy crescendo, while ‘Eyes’ is one of the tracks that conjures thoughts of Hospice, especially the corporeal imagery of the lyrics in detailing the end of things.

“I saw smoke around the front yard of our house
you were right,
I don’t know what’s on my mind
but I feel fine”

‘Spider’ is another track that slowly unfurls, eventually a crash of drums and epic guitar, while ‘Keeping’ is based on a pulsing drumbeat, the vocals stalking around like the gloomy spectres of what could have been, emotions from another time. Penultimate track ‘December’ seems to describe an incredibly painful deterioration, a person trying to hold things together as they slowly fall apart. The track’s closing offers little consolation, grief replacing the clawing sensation of trying to hold on. Closer ‘Unfold’ ends on a typically anxious note, forgoing any resense of peace or closure.

“For the first time I feel a little older.
Am I acting the same as ever around you?
Behind your back I think I act the same.
But this ring still bites, and my friends all fight, and this will never change”

You can get Everything, All at Once now on CD or as a name-your-price download via the These Bashful Claws Bandcamp page.

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The EP is dreamy and hushed and serves to palliate the stresses and worries of modern life with “a distinct desire for understanding and compassion”. If you’re a fan of meditative, experimental, music then I highly recommend having a listen.

You can buy the EP right now over at Patient Sounds.

And one last thing.  I encourage you to familiarise yourself with the rest of the Patient Sounds catalogue. An independent label based in Fort Collins, Colorado, they release music on cassette tapes (like the Earthbound one below) which come in these beautifully designed cases and just look generally amazing. The music itself isn’t bad either! I am yet to explore fully but on early listens I would suggest checking out A Spirit by Pines, Motivated/Unmotivated by Kites Sail High and The Westers by Wellington Downs.

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