My Chat w/ Monarch on Their New EP, “Sweet Little Things”

Hudson Valley band Monarch just released their first EP, "Sweet Little Things" on June 16th, and before it came out, I got to sit down with the band to talk about their latest achievement, along with getting a special sneak-peek.

CONOR: What does "Sweet Little Things" mean to you guys?

MONARCH: It means a new beginning, and new adventures for us as a band. It’s our first EP, so it represents excitement and lots of energy, and starting things off strong!

 

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CONOR: Y'all have been posting some terrific promotional material from a recent photoshoot of yours. Can you talk about that experience? It looked like you guys had such a blast!

MONARCH: We went to Brooklyn to shoot at Elle Studios in Brooklyn, which is owned by our friend Mark Laubenheimer. Our good friend Cameron DeVogal photographed us and helped creatively direct the shoot, as well. Johnny got to dye his hair pink for it, as well! Mark had a soundtrack going on which allowed us to be comfortable and live in the moment, and we even got to have a dance party with everyone. We had so much fun and got some Indian food after.

 

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CONOR: Some bands will have one person primarily write all the songs, while others make it a whole group project. What style do y'all typically favor? Could you break down the process for us?

MONARCH: [Sarah] would come up with some vocal melodies, then take them to Johnny who would come up with the chords and progressions, and then Nick comes up with beautiful solos as well as Jesse coming up with some thick bass!!! As for recording, we had lots of fun with Eric Dalton. We recorded live drums upstairs in Eric’s gigantic & tall living room. We got to mess around with vocals and harmonies a lot which was so fun, Nick got to use improvisation during the recording process for his solo on Sweet Little Things. Nick had the riff of Shake You Off stuck in his head for months, all of us wrote the lyrics together. Lots of experimentation on this EP; keyboard, saxophone, Spanish guitar, aux percussion, and strings. Recording is so fun because you set aside 4 days to just be with your band and have fun and create.

 

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CONOR: It's one thing to record these songs, but it is a whole other thing to get to perform them live. How has it been to start playing these songs out?

MONARCH: Playing live is awesome as we get to use dynamics to encapsulate a grander scheme of a song, and we get to interact and engage with the crowd. The audience is part of the music as much as we are.

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MONARCH: You have to tell us which is your favorite song!

CONOR: It's a great EP! Morning Coffee slaps, of course, but my other favorite would probably be Shake You Off. They are all good because I can tell how different songs key into people's expertise and backgrounds. It's well rounded, consistent, and strong

"Sweet Little Things" is currently out on main streaming platforms. You can see Monarch live tomorrow, Friday, June 24th for their EP Release Show at The Broadway.