MRKT
“Monotropa”
Self-released on Bandcamp
I’m so happy that Detroit’s own MRKT are gearing up to release their new record later this year.
The first taste of it is the just-released “Monotropa,” which builds a woozy whirlwind of a dub journey around these simple house music piano stabs that open the track from Nolan Tillis.
There’s nothing like this coming out of Detroit, but you can hear the influences of well-established local sounds, mainly the electronic music scene, which sounds a lot less sterile and a lot more feral on this track. That makes sense – “Monotropa” is named after a rare plant that grows deep in the forest, doesn’t need light to survive and gets nicknamed the ‘ghost plant’ for its appearance.
Ben Van Camp is yet again a thundering force on the drums. And I’m happy that MRKT is more committed to being a trio with the help of trumpeter Ben Green, who plays like a madman on this track.
It honestly gave me some anxiety the first time listening to it -- and I don’t mean that like a bad thing.
I love MRKT so much as a live band that I’ve written about them before for Midbrow, describing them as “all prog-rock basslines and synths paired with thumping drums.” I also noted that they remind me of a lot of things I hear coming out of the south London jazz scene, like Nubya Garcia and Joe Armon-Jones at their most dubbed-out.
And while I do think MRKT is still best seen live, they’re clearly starting to capture some of that magic via their recordings with “Monotropa.” Can’t wait to hear the rest of the record.
