sepultara1
Behold all you horror movie 80’s fans..Drab Majesty is all of what makes you respect the goth that lives with you!
Favorite track: The Foyer.
Eddie Hippisley-Cox
I love throw back music like this. It feels like it could have easily been a hidden gem from the new wave movement of the 80's. But yet feels forward thinking and innovative. Music like this is perfect for my journey back from work on these hot summer nights.
Can't wait to hear this record on my turntable.
Favorite track: The Foyer.
In the smoggy orange light of a new millennium, the young Deb Demure would take the bus, once a week, from his home in crumbling Hollywood to his grandmother’s apartment, nestled in the pastel pristineness of Beverly Hills. During these visits, Deb couldn’t help but notice the disconnect between the glow of his grandmother’s temple, and the downtrodden, alienated figures that populated the seats of the mass transit that took him there. Week after week, he would observe these characters: fading B-movie starlets, leisure-suited alcoholics and forgotten civil servants. But one fateful commute home, as the twilight waned to the purple Los Angeles night, he realized these figures were not as lost as they appeared – there was a nobility in their failure, reflective of the dignity of the city’s vanishing golden era. They were survivors, in need of a voice: a spokesperson for every color of hope and hopelessness, transcendent of gender and time; Drab Majesty became Deb's musical podium for this undertaking.
Raised in a music-centric household, Deb would find the time to teach himself to play his father's right-handed guitar upside down and left-handed; an unorthodox fashion from where his earliest understanding of chords and harmony were conceived. Exploring the bins of discarded vinyl in his neighborhood thrift stores, his toolkit expanded with the subterranean sonic gems of the recent past. Influences range from the virtuosic arpeggiated guitar work of Felt's Maurice Deebank and the grittier pop progressions of Red Lorry Yellow Lorry's Chris Reed as well as Steve Severin from Siouxsie and The Banshees. He also studied the harmonic oscillations and utilization of the occult power of vibratory frequency present in New Age sounds of Greek artist, IASOS. In terms of orchestration, he consciously culls from the seaside maximalism of Martin Dupont and mechanized grooves of early Depeche Mode. Like a dualistic pendulum, his vocals swing from a preistly baritone to a choir boy's falsetto reflecting the sepulchral ambiance of church visits with his grandmother.
Currently the drummer for Los Angeles lo-fi rock ensemble Marriages and having honed an unorthodox home recording style, Deb sources his sounds from a repository of "mid-fi" synthesizers and other lesser-quality instruments. Following the release of his debut cassette EP, "Unarian Dances", he also shared a split 12" with synth pop forefathers, Eleven Pond. During the Spring of 2015, Drab Majesty signed with Dais Records and released his first single, Unknown to the I, as a introduction for his first initial foray into the album format, romantically titled Careless. Written over the course of 2 years, "Careless" is a compendium of songs that have outlasted a malicious burglary of his studio, his struggles with substance addiction, and most recently, the death of his beloved grandmother.
credits
released June 23, 2015
All songs were received, written, and recorded by Deb Demure in various dungeons and domiciles in Los Angeles, CA
Produced by Deb Demure
Mixed by Matthew Powell
Mastered by Josh Bonati
Additional vocals by
Emma Ruth Rundle on "Entrance And Exits"
Alex Nicolaou on "The Heiress"
Art Direction by Deb Demure
Album photography by Thomas McMahan
Photo assistant - Ryan Speers
Layout by Gibby Miller
A very special thanks to Gibby Miller and Ryan Martin, Matthew Powell, Thomas McMahan, Emma Ruth Rundle, Jillian Bleiweiss, Greg Alan & Future Music, Anthony Ferrara, Mike Clinco, and John Van Tongeren.
It's uncanny just how good Actors is at emulating that Post-Punk synth sound from my younger days.
Each listen just gets better and better. I feel slightly ashamed for not having heard this album until a few short days ago. modestwriggles
Pretty, Lush-inspired dream pop has a gentle touch, with whispered spoken-sung French vocals drifting lightly over shimmering guitars. Bandcamp New & Notable Oct 24, 2019
Darkwave synth that directly addresses our modern dystopian political environment, with proceeds going to the Voting Rights Project. Bandcamp New & Notable Oct 17, 2018