New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Cardiff-based, DIY-folk-pop collective, Quiet Marauder, are set to release their 5th album at the end of October 2023. This follows on from their madcap 111-song debut album, MEN (2013), as well as the more recent Tiny Men Parts (2020) and
The Gift (2021), and continues their long-established relationship both with their label, Bubblewrap Collective, and Canadian collaborators, The Burning Hell.
Recorded in a Snowbird Studios pop-up in Lourinha, Portugal, Introducing Malcolm Del Monte continues the band's fascination with high concepts and musical, album-length storytelling. At its core, it is an album about self-identity, isolation, and our innate fluctuations as human beings. Set during the pandemic, the album's a very loosely autobiographical (read: almost entirely false) account of band leader
Simon M. Read's day-to-day life during Covid lockdowns with partner, Kadesha Drija, and imaginary friend, Malcolm Del Monte.
Choosing to largely avoid the topic of the pandemic altogether, Introducing Malcolm Del Monte instead charts the highs and lows of these living arrangements. These range from outrageous daytime drinking (high) to disagreements on the nature of perversion (low), with the first half of the album covering Malcolm's emergence and ultimate expulsion from the house. With his absence being sorely felt, the second half sheds light on the alternative voices looking to fill that Malcolm-shaped space: a murderous green giant; a despondent Milk Tray Man; and a broken-necked, hypersexual Jet from Gladiators.
As with their previous story-based albums, the foreground narratives act to enable background allusions to other core concerns: the power of nostalgia; advertising and cultural consumption; well-being and isolation; balancing acts of the self. Ultimately, the album's message is of striking a balance between self-questioning and improvement, and most of all, not being too hard on yourself when things don't feel quite right.
Sonically and seamlessly ranging from alt-folk to industrial synth to melodic indie-pop, Introducing Malcolm Del Monte covers a lot of ground.
Injected with the musicality of Quiet Marauder themselves, as well as Canadian kindred spirits, The Burning Hell, instrumentation includes flute, piano, chunky bass, acoustic and electric guitar, programmed beats, synthscapes, bamboo clarinet, bongos, and a heap load of vocals. Indeed, alongside the main lead voices of
Simon M. Read, Kadesha Drija and Malcolm Del Monte (Rowan Liggett) there are guest performances from My Name Is Ian and The Burning Hell's Mathias Kom.
The album will be preceded by lead single and video Momma Mia! I Made You Some Sangria! on 22nd September, as well as Milk Tray Man in early October, ahead of the full LP hitting the market on 27th October and a launch show in Tiny
Rebel Cardiff on 17th November.
Introducing Malcolm Del Monte will be available on vinyl via Bubblewrap Collective's online shop, as well as through Bandcamp, and at a range of independent record stores. It will also be available on digital formats and streaming services.
Tracklisting:
One Of Many Voices
Dreams Of Lamp Filament Numbers
The Full Del Monte Variety (ft. Malcolm Del Monte)
Momma Mia! I Made You Some Sangria (ft. Malcolm Del Monte & Kadesha Drija)
The Provocation (ft. Malcolm Del Monte)
A
Journey Towards
Total Inward Isolation
Then, Nothing
Let's See What You Could Have Won
The Jolly Green Giant (ft. My Name Is Ian)
Milk Tray Man (ft. Mathias Kom)
Jet From
Gladiator (ft. Kadesha Drija)
Malcolm, Come Back
Plenty Of Fish In The Sea
Better Than We Could Have Been (ft. The Full Cast)
