Sonic Transmission: Monte Luna – The Water Hag

Something is lurking in the depths of Lake Travis – born out of cruelty and spite – and it’s coming to drown Austin with a weeping yet equally toxic menace. James Cl and Philip Hook, the heart and soul of Monte Luna, are no strangers to such nail-dragging phantasmagoria; their 2017 eponymous debut valiantly eclipsed a lot of the competition with gargantuan trips around the sun few are brave enough to cast themselves. The promise behind upcoming album Drowners’ Wives (out October 4th through Argonauta Records) is that of a departure – this time oozing a trail down the path towards the laconic, yet no less ominous or treacherous. This writer tells all to fear not! One listen to ‘The Water Hag’ is enough to fill your lungs with the pitch-black water it drags you deeper into, allowing you only to breathe right at the last moment; it is a thrill you simply cannot stay away from.

Many bands harness their power in different ways; whilst many bands may sound like mere clones of each other, it is how they wield and unleash said power which makes them entirely different entities. On the opener to their sophomore record, Monte Luna evoke not just the murky depths of some watery graveyard but also the very real sensation of a forcible descent, clutched by the spectral hands of poison and malice to a place completely void of light. From its pummelling opening riff to its heartbreaking turn a minute in to one of 2019’s more haunting motifs’The Water Hag’ subjects you to a harrowing near-death experience, Cl’s tortured lament paradoxically the only light source guiding you throughout. Plodding deeper down with each passing second its struggle takes several turns towards the drastic until all hope escapes; it’s brief but no less mesmerising solo ushering in ‘the brink’ as Cl cries out no they’ll never take me away in desperation. Does doom evocation ever get as dark and as real as this? Many try, few ultimately succeed. With each life-affirming gasp for air with the track’s abrupt end, who knows how far the Texan duo will push us under, and whether or not we meet our demise…

Also note the super cool artwork from artist Becky Cloonan!

Follow the band here.

Be sure to be submerged by Monte Luna’s other releases here.

Preorders soon to follow…