Marked by its androgynous visual identity, eerie themes, and melancholic synth pop, Drab Majesty is a project led by Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter Andrew Clinco, who records under the alter ego Deb DeMure. Mixing the sonic aesthetic of early 4AD artists with elements of goth and new wave, Clinco issued a scattering of indie releases before signing with DAIS Records. After 2015's Careless, he was joined by collaborator Alex Nicolaou (aka Mona D) on subsequent releases including 2017's mass suicide-themed concept album The Demonstration and 2019's dense, synth-driven Modern Mirror. Drab Majesty returned in 2023 with the four-song mini-album An Object in Motion which featured a collaboration with Slowdive's Rachel Goswell. Raised in a musical household during the early 2000s, Clinco developed a taste for the eccentric and culturally defining sounds of acts like Siouxsie and the Banshees, Red Lorry, Yellow Lorry, and Felt. He taught himself to play his father's guitar and regularly attended church with his grandmother, where the expansive range of the choir and the naturally cavernous acoustics of the church would later influence his dramatic vocal style. Clinco's entry into the national music scene came as the drummer for both the post-rock outfit Marriages and neo-goth darkwave band Black Mare. Interested in creating something that traversed visual arts as well as aural textures, he landed on the idea of creating a character though which he could translate his outside influence. This resulted in the alter ego of Deb DeMure and the multi-angled world of Drab Majesty. Blending '80s-influenced new wave with jangly, reverberating guitars and ethereal synth leads, Drab Majesty issued the independent 2012 EP Unarian Dances in a limited run of 100 cassettes. Inspired by a '50s UFO cult, the effort was later picked up and re-pressed by Lollipop Records. Drab Majesty signed with DAIS Records in 2015 and released their debut full-length effort Careless later that year. A critical success, the album was reissued a year later in expanded form under the title Completely Careless. Still essentially a solo project, DeMure took the band on the road to promote the record, playing with acts such as Clan of Xymox, the Black Queen, and DAIS labelmates King Dude and Youth Code. It was around this time that he began working with keyboardist Alex Nicolaou (aka Mona D) and Drab Majesty became a duo. Mona D's first release with the band was the 2017 full-length, The Demonstration. Billed as a concept album, it was centered around the psychology behind mass suicides, focusing on Heaven's Gate cult leader Marshall Applewhite. Later that year, the band released a 7" single "Oak Wood," written in honor of the late Cash Askew from the darkwave band Them Are Us Too. Tours of the U.S. and Europe continued into 2018. On their next project, 2019's Modern Mirror, they continued to hone their signature sound while leaning into prominent use of synthesizers, effects, and post-punk-influenced guitar work. During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, Clinco involved himself in a side project, VR Sex, before resuming his collaboration with Nicolaou in Drab Majesty. Rather than another full-length, the band's next project was a four-song effort that fell somewhere between an EP and a mini-album. Titled An Object in Motion, it was released in 2023 and featured guest vocals from Slowdive singer Rachel Goswell on the song "Vanity." ~ Rob Wacey

Hellwave 3 2019

Drab Majesty

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