Belarusian trio announce new album 'Monument' out November 13th on Sacred Bones Records & share new single
“Ne Smeshno”.
Today Belarusian trio Molchat Doma announce the release of their third album, ‘Monument’, due out on November 13, 2020 via Sacred Bones Records. With the announcement comes the new single “Ne Smeshno,” a pre-pandemic live favourite.
Plaintive and imploring, “Ne Smeshno” roughly translates to “Not Funny” and finds singer Egor Shkutko expressing feelings of disconnection and frustration in Russian over pummelling drum machines.
‘Monument’ is a fitting title for the third album by Belarusian trio Molchat Doma. Indeed, it stands as a monument to everything they’ve achieved in their short time as a band, from whispered-about unknowns, to enigmatic underground icons, to legitimate viral sensations with hundreds of thousands of TikTok videos using their music.
Molchat Doma (translated as “Houses Are Silent”), founded in 2017 in Minsk, stand at the intersection of post-punk, new-wave and synth-pop. Dark, yet danceable. The band is comprised of Egor Shkutko, who sings the Russian lyrics in his deep, thundering tones, Roman Komogortsev on guitar, synths, and drum machine, and Pavel Kozlov on bass and synths.
When their debut album 'S Krysh Nashikh Domov' was released in 2017, it announced a bold new voice in underground music. The album found a passionate audience on Bandcamp and other streaming services and was released on CD and cassette. Second LP 'Etazhi' (meaning “Floors”) was first released in 2018 on Berlin-based Detriti Records. It became a viral hit, garnering over one million views on YouTube and becoming a legitimate phenomenon on Bandcamp.
Six separate vinyl pressings of the album sold out before Sacred Bones signed the band earlier this year and brought both records back into print for good. The signing was celebrated with the band’s first ever London show, which saw tickets sell so fast that the venue was upgraded twice and eventually had the iconic Scala packed to the rafters for a rapturously received show, mere weeks before lockdown came into force.
Written and recorded while the band was quarantined in their hometown of Minsk during the COVID-19 pandemic, ‘Monument’ is a conscious step up in songwriting and fidelity, and it reveals a band preternaturally comfortable in its own skin. Their greatest strength has always been their songwriting, and three albums in, they have truly honed their craft.
As the band’s arrangements have grown more sophisticated, so too have the sounds they use to bring them to life. Roman Komogortsev and Pavel Kozlov’s gear arsenal has grown to include an extensive range of synthesizers and drum machines, all of which they deploy with precision. Egor Shkutko’s vocals move fluidly between his distinctive deadpan drawl and an expressive, velvety lull, his beautifully delivered Russian lyrics both bleak and romantic.
With ‘Monument’, Molchat Doma have done one of the hardest things to do as a band. They’ve greatly expanded the scope of their music while retaining everything that made them great in the first place.‘Monument’ is a marker of what promises to be a truly pivotal moment in their career.
Molchat Doma - Monument