Headfirst Editor's Pick
"Sell out warning! Demure ambient darkwave and elegant dream pop comedowns, fashioned in graveyards by androgynous West Coast aliens. Instant-buy FFO: Tempers, the KVB, Chromatics, Slowdive, Chameleons, Felt, Emeralds."
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A gig held at Strange Brew on Friday 2nd February. The event starts at 19:00.
DRAB MAJESTY • www.linktr.ee/drabmajesty
NUOVO TESTAMENTO • www.linktr.ee/nuovotestamento
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Drab Majesty is the project of Deb DeMure, the androgynous alter-ego of L.A.-based musician Andrew Clinco and partner Mona D (Alex Nicolaou). Dubbed “Tragic Wave” and “Mid-Fi” by DeMure, Drab Majesty eloquently blends New Wave and hints of the early 4AD sound into a hypnotic, futuristic originality. A combination of reverb-drenched guitars, synth bass lines, rhythmic drum machine beats, and commanding vocals, Drab Majesty has transcended its subversive Los Angeles origins into a worldwide phenomenon.
Drab Majesty’s first release, the limited-edition cassette Unarian Dances, was self-released in 2012. In 2015, Dais Records released the debut LP Careless. Careless was met with high praise from critics and fans alike, and the original pressing is now a sought-after gem. One year later, after the initial pressings of Careless sold out, Dais released the compilation Completely Careless, which featured Drab Majesty’s then-entire discography, including two previously unreleased tracks, on CD.
The latest EP from Drab Majesty marks the start of a stirring new chapter in the band’s majestic legacy. Written during a 2021 retreat to the remote coastal Oregon town of Yachats, Deb Demure leaned into the neo-psychedelic resonance of a uniquely bowl-shaped 12-string Ovation acoustic/electric guitar. After early morning hikes in the rain, Deb would record ambient guitar experiments the rest of the day, tapping into “flow states,” letting the sound lead the way. These sessions were then refined or recreated, and later elevated further with key collaborations by Rachel Goswell (Slowdive), Justin Meldal-Johnson (Beck, M83, Air), and Ben Greenberg (Uniform, Circular Ruin Studio). An Object In Motion is true to its title, capturing the chrysalis moment of an artist evolving, reborn and untethered, silhouetted against an open horizon.
“Cape Perpetua” kicks off the collection’s divergent palette: sparkling acoustic finger-picking refracted through delay, equal parts raga and reverie. Melodies and moods congeal and dissipate, at the threshold of rustic American primitivism, brooding neo-folk, and pastoral melancholia. “The Skin And The Glove” deploys jangle to different effect – baggy, soaring, grey-skied kaleidoscopic pop in the spirit of Stone Roses, Primal Scream, and The Glove. Rachel Goswell lends her iconic freefall voice to the Cure-esque ballad, “Vanity,” infusing poetic gravity to the doomed refrain: “If the valve breaks / then the earth quakes / and history finds a way / to put you in your place.”
But closing track “Yield To Force” may be the most anomalous offering of the set. A 15-minute instrumental odyssey of cyclical strings, ominous slide guitar, and simmering synthesizer, the piece sways and spirals like a long zoom into distant storm clouds. Demure finesses the guitar with a restless but regal grandeur, unfolding a panorama of peaks, shadows, and plateaus. It’s music both intuitive and prophetic, tracing the slow swing of pendulums across an endless plain. Taken as a whole, An Object In Motion presents a showcase of potential futures from Drab’s evolving domain, their sound poised to bloom at the precipice of transformation.
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14+ (under 18s must be accompanied by an adult)
Presented by DM Generation.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
DM events • www.linktr.ee/dm.online
Entry requirements: 14+ (under 18s must be accompanied by an adult)
NUOVO TESTAMENTO • www.linktr.ee/nuovotestamento
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Drab Majesty is the project of Deb DeMure, the androgynous alter-ego of L.A.-based musician Andrew Clinco and partner Mona D (Alex Nicolaou). Dubbed “Tragic Wave” and “Mid-Fi” by DeMure, Drab Majesty eloquently blends New Wave and hints of the early 4AD sound into a hypnotic, futuristic originality. A combination of reverb-drenched guitars, synth bass lines, rhythmic drum machine beats, and commanding vocals, Drab Majesty has transcended its subversive Los Angeles origins into a worldwide phenomenon.
Drab Majesty’s first release, the limited-edition cassette Unarian Dances, was self-released in 2012. In 2015, Dais Records released the debut LP Careless. Careless was met with high praise from critics and fans alike, and the original pressing is now a sought-after gem. One year later, after the initial pressings of Careless sold out, Dais released the compilation Completely Careless, which featured Drab Majesty’s then-entire discography, including two previously unreleased tracks, on CD.
The latest EP from Drab Majesty marks the start of a stirring new chapter in the band’s majestic legacy. Written during a 2021 retreat to the remote coastal Oregon town of Yachats, Deb Demure leaned into the neo-psychedelic resonance of a uniquely bowl-shaped 12-string Ovation acoustic/electric guitar. After early morning hikes in the rain, Deb would record ambient guitar experiments the rest of the day, tapping into “flow states,” letting the sound lead the way. These sessions were then refined or recreated, and later elevated further with key collaborations by Rachel Goswell (Slowdive), Justin Meldal-Johnson (Beck, M83, Air), and Ben Greenberg (Uniform, Circular Ruin Studio). An Object In Motion is true to its title, capturing the chrysalis moment of an artist evolving, reborn and untethered, silhouetted against an open horizon.
“Cape Perpetua” kicks off the collection’s divergent palette: sparkling acoustic finger-picking refracted through delay, equal parts raga and reverie. Melodies and moods congeal and dissipate, at the threshold of rustic American primitivism, brooding neo-folk, and pastoral melancholia. “The Skin And The Glove” deploys jangle to different effect – baggy, soaring, grey-skied kaleidoscopic pop in the spirit of Stone Roses, Primal Scream, and The Glove. Rachel Goswell lends her iconic freefall voice to the Cure-esque ballad, “Vanity,” infusing poetic gravity to the doomed refrain: “If the valve breaks / then the earth quakes / and history finds a way / to put you in your place.”
But closing track “Yield To Force” may be the most anomalous offering of the set. A 15-minute instrumental odyssey of cyclical strings, ominous slide guitar, and simmering synthesizer, the piece sways and spirals like a long zoom into distant storm clouds. Demure finesses the guitar with a restless but regal grandeur, unfolding a panorama of peaks, shadows, and plateaus. It’s music both intuitive and prophetic, tracing the slow swing of pendulums across an endless plain. Taken as a whole, An Object In Motion presents a showcase of potential futures from Drab’s evolving domain, their sound poised to bloom at the precipice of transformation.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
14+ (under 18s must be accompanied by an adult)
Presented by DM Generation.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
DM events • www.linktr.ee/dm.online
Entry requirements: 14+ (under 18s must be accompanied by an adult)
Other dark wave gigs
— Rough Trade Bristol
noise rock
shoegaze
experimental
noise
— The Louisiana
rock
classic rock
alternative rock
indie rock
shoegaze
