Yacht - Photo by Hugh Francis

I arrived at Brooklyn Night Bazaar at Dekalb Market around halfway through Monogold‘s set. The Brooklyn-based three-piece was midway through delivering a tight set of reverb-soaked guitar work and powerful drumming. Monogold’s style is hard to pin down; the band has elements of tribal and tropical music in its sound, but these elements never dominate. With rich, textural layering, the band comes off sounding quite ethereal, often shamanic. Monogold has managed to cultivate somewhat of a unique identity and certainly has something new to offer to the genre of epic indie rock.
 
The danceable and charismatic Yacht took the stage soon after. Lead singer Claire Evans was never at a loss for energy. Her stage presence was enormous, and she held the attention of the crowd for what was almost an hour of quirky indie pop. The band was very tidy, even though each multi-instrumentalist member juggled synths and guitars between songs. Jona Bechtolt really stood out as a talent, taking turns on lead vocal, guitar, keyboards, sequencers, drums and bass. The band finished with the upbeat “Psychic City” to a comfortable crowd of 350 punters singing every word.