Premiere: Monta dares to dream on ‘Apples of the Sun’

Monta. // photo by Todd Zimmer

Kansas City post-punk act Monta originally wrote “Apples of the Sun” nearly five years ago, but never finished it. To celebrate the two-year anniversary of NASA officially touching the sun in 2021, they’ve dusted it off and finished it.

“Monta had been inspired by a Ray Bradbury short story, which in turn had been inspired by a song, and created ‘Apples of the Sun,'” explains the band in a press release. “Speaking to the hubris of humankind and our quest to become our own gods, the song talks about the high self-esteem we collectively place on ourselves as we strive to prove we are as great as the gods of myth and legend.”

“Apples of the Sun” is a fascinating and hypnotic piece of music, demonstrating the ever-changing moods and styles of the long-running Monta. We’re excited to premiere it today, and you can check it out below, as well as our interview with the band’s Dedric Moore.

The Pitch: The title, “Apples of the Sun,” nods to Silver Apples of the Moon. Given how much synthesizers play into your sound, was that intentional?

Dedric Moore: No, it wasn’t intentional. We were on a parallel track with the Bradbury story, “Golden Apples of the Sun,” but now that you mention it, there must have been a subliminal influence with the outer space sounds going on in Silver Apples of the Moon.

How did the song change after you dusted it off?

The song was originally going to be in the vein of “Tomorrow Never Knows,” with a lot of tape loop vintage synth tones. As the vocals developed the song became too chaotic, so I pulled back on the loops and kept the harmonies in focus. Adam Davies and Zach Bozich from Mysterious Clouds added the vocal harmonies and it really gives the song an emotional lift. I decided to keep the drums simple with a twisted drum machine beat and not have the “rock drums” added to the mix as I usually do. I wanted to quiet the song into a celebration of humankind’s triumph.

What was it like, revisiting unfinished material, while also releasing a new EP?

We are always working on songs so “Apples” was in my folder of songs I wanted to finish but needed to find out everything I didn’t want in the song before I found the parts that needed to be in it. Once I had become aware of the anniversary of NASA touching the sun, I knew it had to be completed after sitting in a folder since 2018.

For 2023, Monta is trying to do album sides as EPs so that each one has a mood. The goal is to have a new song out each month for 2023. The Crystal Momentum EP was a conscious attempt to strip back to the essentials while keeping a warm feel to the mix. This informed my mood when re-approaching “Apples of the Sun.” “Everything in its right place” is the mantra.

Does the ever-changing Monta lineup help to allow the band to move backward and forwards in time?

What’s great about the players that are in Monta right now is that they understand and love the vision of where the band is going. They also appreciate the past music we’ve made. As we bring songs in and out of the set we can take the bones of the songs and reassemble them into something recognizable but still sounding like the current music we are making. We’ve always played the songs live in the past with the understanding that songs might change shape to fit the set or mood we are in. I think that comes from the remix culture we grew up with as bands would release remixes that would surpass the original.