Zoon Announces Debut LP + New Single, Signs To Paper Bag Records, 'Bleached Wavves' LP Out June 19

Shares "Vibrant Colors" (Produced By Chris Chu/Morning Benders/Pop Etc) Via Talkhouse

Bleached Wavves Out June 19th Via Paper Bag Records

Photo Cred: Vanessa Heins

OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE


NEWS PROVIDED BY
Tell All Your Friends PR

Introducing the debut album from Zoon, Paper Bag Records is proud to release Bleached Wavves on June 19, 2020. The name Zoon derives from the Ojibway word Zoongide’ewin which means “bravery, courage, the Bear Spirit” and aptly describes the inspirations for the project and the lovingly crafted first full-length recording from aboriginal songwriter, Daniel Monkman.

With this announcement comes Zoon's debut single off of Bleached Wavves, "Vibrant Colors." The track premiered exclusively with Talkhouse. In the piece Monkman writes, "After a tremendous amount of personal reflection, as well as diving back into music head first, I began experimenting with lyrics and melodies and eventually found my way to Chris Chu (The Morning Benders, POP ETC), who helped the songs come alive. I wrote a series of songs about my childhood and mental health and one of those songs became, "Vibrant Colours," (which was produced and mixed by Chu). One thing I remember clearly about my grandmother's dementia was that whenever my mom played guitar with her she’d regain memories. That powerfully impacted me and caused my obsession with music, because now I truly and genuinely saw it as a tool to heal."

The campaign will include four advance tracks, beginning with the single "Vibrant Colours" on February 21, 2020, single releases will be supported by video content created for each leading up to the album release on June 19th. This March, Zoon will be showcasing four times at the New Colossus festival in New York City with appearances on March 12, 13, 14 and 15 with additional spring and summer dates to be announced soon.

Tour Dates:
Mar 12 - Piano’s / New Colossus Festival - NYC
Mar 13 - Delancey / New Colossus Festival - NYC
Mar 14 - Bowery Electric Map Room / New Colossus Festival - NYC
Mar 15 - Piano’s / New Colossus Festival - NYC

Bleached Wavves - TRACKLISTING
01. Clouded Formation
02. Vibrant Colours
03. Was & Always Will Be
04. Bleached Wavves
05. BrokenHead
06. A Perfect Sunset, Ahead
07. Light Prism
08. Landscapes
09. Infinite Horizons
10. Help Me Understand

BIO
In the Ojibway language, the word Zoongide’ewin means “bravery, courage, the Bear Spirit.” It’s no wonder then that Daniel Monkman adopted Zoon as his musical moniker. The Hamilton-based musician has spent the better part of his 28 years channelling that strength to overcome such adversities as racism, poverty and addiction.

Music saved Monkman’s life, and now he wants to share his story. On Zoon’s debut album, Bleached Wavves, he paints a message of hope and fortitude, lessons he learned studying the Seven Grandfather teachings after experiencing the lowest point of his life.

Born and raised in Selkirk, Manitoba, a small prison town outside of Winnipeg he describes as “one of the roughest places,” Monkman has faced an uphill battle his whole life. In his teens he was victimized for his First Nations heritage, which led to him abusing drugs and alcohol as a coping mechanism. His best friend died of an overdose; he nearly followed him on multiple occasions. But with the spiritual guidance he learned from 12-step therapy, Monkman got clean and began to follow a passion for music he discovered from a young age growing up within the Brokenhead Ojibway Nation.

Bleached Wavves is the first true document of what has been dubbed “moccasin-gaze,” a tongue-in-cheek nickname for the amalgamation of his shoegaze influences with traditional First Nations music. Like My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless, a record that changed everything for him, Zoon pushes forward that famously quixotic, effects-laden sound with a distinctive, new approach.

A song like “Help Me Understand,” which mixes traditional hand drumming with gliding waves of droning guitar, feels like new ground has been broken for shoegaze fanatics to obsess over. As he got more into this mindset of mixing cultures, Monkman went even further with his trials, emerging with his most radical vision, the trance-inducing “Was & Always Will Be.”

Like most things in his life, making the album didn’t come easy for Monkman, however. His gear was stolen, leaving him with virtually nothing. Knowing he had to get creative, he recorded the songs in his bedroom and his jam space, using only a Fender Deville guitar, a DigiTech delay pedal and - channelling his hero Kevin Shields - some “reverse engineering.”

Once it was finished, he got music into the hands of the late publicist Darryl Weeks, who quickly became a fan of what he heard. With Weeks’ guidance and industry knowledge, Monkman found an ally willing to help out. He also found a label: Weeks passed on the record to fellow shoegaze enthusiast Trevor Larocque at Paper Bag Records, who offered to give Zoon a home.

While there is a healthy population of nu-gazers creating beautiful noise all over the world, Zoon’s debut stands out from all the others. Bleached Wavves is notable not just for its breathtakingly inimitable sounds and giving birth to a newfangled subgenre (see “moccasin-gaze”), but also for its modest, resourceful creation, the sign of a true sonic genius-in-the-making.

February 21, 2020 11:41am ET by Pressparty  

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