Stay Foggy by Monnone Alone

Marooned at home during Melbourne’s 2020 lockdown, with no bandmates in sight, Mark Monnone had no option but to take matters to his cassette 8-track and set to work on the follow-up to Monnone Alone (the quartet)’s 2019 powerpop tour de force Summer of the Mosquito.

The former-Lucksmiths bassist then gave his home-recorded tapes to Gareth Parton (The Go! Team, Foals, Breeders) to mix the whole glorious mess into something worthy of human consumption. The resulting ten tracks on Stay Foggy bounce blindly from glum to whimsical, from blurred to razor-sharp, showcasing Monnone’s disorientated hopes, dreams and lockdown inertia with an off-the-cuff beach party twist.

Steeped in fuzzy guitars, budget keyboards, bongos and handclaps, first single ‘Feel it Disappearing’ is an anxiety-peppered bubblegum pop singalong for the Zoom-generation.

And, though wrapped up in pop hooks and humour, a toey vibe continues throughout, permeating second single ‘Time is on the Run’ and threading itself throughout the album. ‘Bumpy Bits’, ‘Something Creeping’ and ‘Hard Feelings’ perhaps the most obviously afflicted.

But there’s plenty of sunshine poking through the fog – album opener ‘Pepper Jar’ channels The Apples in Stereo via Television Personalities and The Who, while ‘The Silos’ conjures an image of innocence: summer nights radiant in the glow of first love and the scent of sweat and frangipani. ‘Painted Brick’ meanwhile is a fuzzy-tremolo bossa–kraut oddity.

The album’s title-track closer is a five-minute rambler underpinned by a hypnotic bassline to lull the listener in to a hazy reverie populated by a lowly cast of “embarcaderros”, laughing in the fog, charging glasses of cheap ginger wine down at the wharf. “I made the whole thing up just because” sings Monnone, perhaps intending this as a wry disclaimer for the entire album.

Stay Foggy. Don’t fight it, pal – these are weird times! Pull that mask up on your nose, give your glasses a public schvitz, blur the edges and enjoy the mystery ride!

Tracklist

1.	Pepper Jar	2:15

2.	Feel It Disappearing	3:29

3.	Bumpy Bits	2:47

4.	Something Creeping	2:07

5.	Andalusia	3:18

6.	Time Is On The Run	3:06

7.	The Silos	1:38

8.	Hard Feelings	2:01

9.	Painted Brick	2:57

10.	Stay Foggy	4:58

Credits

released September 3, 2021

Written, played, sung, recorded and designed by Mark Monnone.
Mixed by Gareth Parton at Los Bomberos.
Mastered by Lachlan Carrick.

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