We are The Monikers. We are a four-piece band currently centered in Boston. We have
recently released a debut EP, Taliesin West.
Taliesin West was rehearsed, arranged, and recorded over July and August of 2011,
during the two-month span of the summer when all four members of the band were in
Boston together. Beginning in May of 2012 the band will, for the foreseeable future, be
finally together and we will have a chance to begin in earnest what we pointed towards
with this EP.
We present Taliesin West as a statement of our intent. The EP is named after a
building designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, a building which was continuously modified,
redesigned, and improved until its creator's death. It is symbolic of the union between
the human body and architecture, of the deep and resonant bond between human being
and the spaces in which it dwells. It represents ever-changing space and continued
development. We as a band are deeply wedded to these ideals: we will continue to
create better and more varied spaces in which the human spirit can move.
Our music is an architecture of carefully crafted spaces. Each song is a place that you
can visit and inhabit. As you enter our songs they will enter you and for those three
minutes the space inside you and the space inside the song will be the same. Each
song is a place waiting for you—to hold yourself open, to give that space within you to
the song for it to enter and grow large, to let yourself loose and dwell within the songs'
enlarged spaces. You will see and feel new and beautiful things.
We will not be satisfied to present you with only one variety of space. We refuse
to submit ourselves before any single genre. Our critics can attempt to contain our
music within some comfortable categorization; we will not perpetrate such a reduction
ourselves. We are a multi-genre band. A pop group with a personality disorder. We
embrace the schizophrenic, the rhizomatic, the subversively expansive approaches to
music.
We believe that the narrow approach taken by many musical artists, working within and
towards some largely singular sound, is forced upon the artists by economic pressures of financial success that necessitate such a branding, such an
easily identifiable package that can be sold to the consumer, a more effective means
of selling some particular image and sound. Under these economic pressures breadth
gives way to a narrowed and dulled focus, to niche markets and to safe familiarity—
you stick to your schtick or join the trends of radio. We are hopeful though. We align
ourselves with what we see as growing trend of artists willing to flout such sonic
simplification.
Taliesin West contains the bright & far-reaching colors of surf, folk, metal, rock, funk,
electro, and indie music. Rather than blend we juxtapose these different sounds in multi-
splendoured and prismatic whole, not melted together but distilled into its purest parts.
This is not an easy pursuit. To produce such quality and diversity requires extraordinary
things from a band. But we are fortunate. Our catalog of original material contains well
over five hundred songs, spanning all genres. This EP represents a small selection
of the breadth of songwriting contained in that catalog. We are at an advantage: most
bands spend a year writing their next album—ours is already written. This leaves us free
to work at transcribing these songs, bringing them to life, both live and in the studio, a
freedom that will allow us to release a prodigious amount of work.
It is this that you can be a part of. As we continue to bring these songs into the world,
crafting these spaces, it is you who must walk into them and make them full. They have
always needed you—to breathe life into their too-physical forms—you who are always
pulling what lies around you into your living present.
Dwell with and in our songs. Bring them to a living, pulsing present. Fill them and allow
them to fill you. Explore their spaces, inhabit them and let them live. Surrounded by
passionate people and fueled by our grand ambitions we will reach great heights.
So put on Taliesin West, turn off the lights, and enjoy.
click above to listen 
