Dr. Monika Demmler is a solo artist originally from Berlin who relocated to Los Angeles. She released her sophomore album Princess late last year. It’s described as a mix of shoegaze, krautrock, and punk and it’s currently streaming on her Bandcamp where you can also order the album on CD or vinyl.
Princess kicks things off with its own title track with a level of sultry confidence and charm that sells new listeners. The refrain of “I still believe in Robin Hoods!” is infectiously fun. Then “Too Good” slows things down with something a little more droning and ethereal. It’s an abrupt shift and contrast, but Demmler pulls it off quite well. “Cutiful” dials up the shoegaze elements even more to create something more dreamlike than punk. Somgs like “Lovecraft” and “Punky Turtle” are every bit as whimsical fun as their titles suggest, and “Kafka Doll” is exactly as dark and dreary as its title suggests. “Zither” ends the album, unsurprisingly, on a zither in a short track with vocal harmonies but no actual lyrics, creating another strange contrast in soundscapes. It’s hard to pull off so many different styles so well one after another, but Demmler manages it somehow.
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