In the winter of 2008, Monuments drove north to begin laying down tracks for their debut album. Surrounded by snow, in a studio in Woodstock, many of the songs they recorded had begun as lyrical inquiries: singer Gabriel Berezin, 10 minutes late to work, watched an airplane fly through his office window in the World Trade Centers on Sept 11, 2001.
Monuments' lineup took form over the intervening years; in came drummer Mike Cook, followed by guitarist Kevin Plessner, and bass player Grant Zubritsky. The band co-founded The Periodic Label, a collective of twenty bands, and played shows throughout Brooklyn and the surrounding environs.
Their self-titled debut album, to be released January, 2010, includes tracks "Not My Own" an existential sci-fi exploration, the epic and waltzing "Silver Star," and "I'm Here Now," a stomping narrative, fever dream. Led by vocals swooping from an imaginary mountain peak, Monuments layers cascading, chiming guitar textures with throbbing bass, tightly tethered by metronomic, drum like precision. From a devastated diary of home recordings, Monuments re-imagines the future of the past into sonic hope.