Molchat Doma’s Monument: A gothic snyth-pop dance party
Belarus trio Molchat Doma’s 2018 album ‘Этажи’ was deeply ahead of its time, signified by the fact that it has only recent started gaining traction in the UK (yes thanks, in part, to Tik Tok – but let’s not go there). Nevertheless, the album solidified the band as one of the greatest current post-punk outfits on the planet and, as I see it, ‘Monument’ only goes to further that claim.
Whilst I adore the band’s previous work, I would have liked to see more evolution in sound between their last album and ‘Monument’, it follows very similar themes and sounds – which is positive given how great their signagture sound is, however I feel as though, if they continue down this path for multiple future albums, the sound is in danger of becoming somewhat stale. For now, though, Molchat Doma still sound incredible, and refreshingly different in comparison to the vast majority of other popular ‘post-punk’ acts at the moment (a lot of whom are beginning to sound identical to each other, leading me to worry that post-punk will become the next ‘indie rock’, but that is a story for another day).
The album kicks off with Cold War style nightclub banger ‘Utonut’ and doesn’t really lift off after that point, continuing the 80’s style synth, reminiscent of New Order, early Depeche Mode, or Telex, on tracks such as ‘Discoteque’ and ‘Ne Smeshno’. The standout track, for me, would have to be ‘Otveta Net’. The dark, booming voice of vocalist Egor Shkutko compliments the retro drum beat and Roman Komogortsev’s whining guitar tones beautifully to create what, I think, will come to be one of Molchat Doma’s defining tracks when all is said and done.
Written entirely in quarantine, Monument embraces the darkness and despair, but doesn’t wallow in the sadness like so many others. Instead, the album is a kind of gothic snyth-pop dance party, which fits the mood of lockdown pretty well honestly. It is perhaps one of the few albums that would work equally well at a house party, or a 2:00am bout of deep melancholy. As Shukuto claims in the lyrics to ‘Discoteque’: “I will continue to dance”, that lyric, in my eyes, is a fitting signifier for the entire album: continuing to dance through the darkness and misery of life in 2020. Truthfully, this album could not have come out at a better time, deep into the second period of lockdown everybody is feeling helpless and tired, we all need the moody tones of three Belarusian men to help us forget about our troubles and cry-dance alone in our bedrooms to industrial, cold wave, post-punk synths.