Dave Monks Shares 'Love Fades' From Debut Solo Album

Today, Dave Monks is sharing the newest offering from debut solo album, On A Wave, out October 18th on Dine Alone Records, with the jangly-indie-folk on "Love Fades" with Brooklyn Vegan calling it "an atmospheric slow burner" going on to say the new song is "pretty different from [the last single] "Don't Go Falling To Pieces" and definitely different from Tokyo Police Club's usual sound". Stripping back the sound from his days with Tokyo Police Club, Monks' "Love Fades" is an ode to relationships in the rearview, simply somber but with hope imbued in the sweetness of the refrain. Speaking to the song Dave Monks details the song saying that

""Love Fades" feels like the answer to my first solo EP, which I wrote when I was at the beginning of a relationship. That relationship ended right before I wrote the music for On A Wave.

I had left New York at the very end of 2017, packing up 5 years of my life into my parent's car overnight and then flown almost directly to LA to spend 12 weeks recording TPC. Once that was wrapped up, I was left sitting back at my parent's house with nothing resembling my old life. I think playing the chords and the expression in "Love Fades" became a "self-soothing" act for me. I think it really helped me make sense of my story and where I was at in the moment.

6 months later, when I started recording On A Wave, I thought it was too simple to actually go on a record but Rob really liked it. I was totally surprised but was suddenly excited to try it. It became a really open sonic canvas and creating on top of that was a really fun exploration, every nuance felt like a discovery. If I could relate it to one other song in my career, it would be "La Ferrassie" (from the band's first record, A Lesson In Crime), another song I wrote when I was feeling displaced in life, having just moved away for my freshman year at McGill.

I always want my listeners to be able to hear my personal journey through the music I put out and I think this song puts forth an important truth for me the same way that the blissful romance of my first record represents an important truth. Things are always a little more complicated than we want them to be and, for me, it's important to let those contradictions exist within us."

Following on the heels of the ambient, Kid A influenced, track "Bluebird", Dave Monks is shared the jangly emotional indie-rock "Don't Go Falling To Pieces" and announced his debut solo record last month. "Don't Go Falling To Pieces" sees Monks finding his footing after the events surrounding after the near dissolution of Tokyo Police Club, which lead to their semi-self titled 2018 record TPC. Whereas in 2018 TPC saw Monks and his bandmates working together to rediscover their love for the band On A Wave is a personal, raw, record with Monks threading these disparate songs he wrote while in a state of dislocation into a cohesive, beautifully arranged and cathartic album that cuts through the chaos of modernity. Following his move back home to Toronto from Brooklyn these songs came together as an exercise in rediscovering those creative impulses that run through his previous works. As Monks sings on "You've known the way all along" one can decide to believe this as a truth, an affirmation, or a consolation that things will, or are, getting better.

Speaking to the process of threading these songs together Monks says that he "thinks this might be my favourite album I have been a part of but I definitely just made it one step, one flight, one song at a time. I didn't really know where I was going with it until it all came together. I'm really happy I stepped into the unknown and endured some moments of serious doubt and wanting to cut songs and redo them" going on to advise that "If you are making something now - remember that uncertainty and second-guessing are just part of the process!"

On A Wave is influenced by the music Monks grew up with, from Radiohead to the Strokes, and as an extremely personal record detailing heartbreak, self-doubt and growth On A Wave dips into the experimental for Monks with adventurous ambient ballads, as heard on "Bluebird", to more straightforward songs like "Don't Go Falling to Pieces". The album was recorded in Toronto and produced by Rob Schnapf (Elliot Smith, Kurt Vile, The Vines), mastered by Mark Chalecki (Mavis Staples, Grandaddy, The Unicorns) with Monks on guitar and vocals accompanied by Alyson McNamara on vocals, Matt Schuessler on bass and Luke Adams on Drums.

Monks will be on tour with Said The Whale this fall, stopping in Chicago, New York and DC for headline shows in November. Find those dates below.

Dave Monks Tour

9/26 - Nanaimo, BC - Port Theatre ~

9/27 - Campbell River, BC - Tidemark Theatre ~

9/28 - Victoria, BC - Capital Ballroom ~

10/1 - Kamloops, BC - Blue Grotto ~

10/3 - Calgary, AB - Palace Theatre ~

10/6 - Red Deer, AB - Bo's Bar & Stage ~

10/7 - Saskatoon, SK - Broadway Theatre ~

10/9 - Regina, SK - The Artesian ~

10/11 - Winnipeg, MB - The Garrick ~

11/8 - Chicago, IL - Subterranean Downstairs*

11/14 - New York, NY - Berlin*

11/15 - Washington, DC - Songbyrd*

11/27 - St. Catharines, ON - Warehouse ~

11/28 - London, ON - London Music Hall ~

11/29 - Waterloo, ON - Maxwell's Music House ~

11/30 - Hamilton, ON - The Casbah ~

12/3 - Halifax, NS - Seahorse Tavern ~

12/5 - Fredericton, NB - The Capitol ~

12/6 - Montreal, QC - L'Escogriffe Bar Spectacle (L'Esco) ~

12/7 - Ottawa, ON - Bronson Centre ~

12/8 - Oshawa, ON - The Music Hall Concert Theater ~

12/14 - Toronto, ON - Phoenix Concert Theatre ~

~ with Said The Whale

* Dave Monks solo shows

Photo Credit: Mimi Raver