Photo: Alina Pasok, Karim Belkasemi
Belarusian post-punk band Molchat Doma emerged from the grey, imposing industrial landscape of Minsk in 2017. Their sound, cold and stark like the brutalist architecture of their album art, pulses with human heartbeats beneath its concrete facade. The trio—Egor Shkutko, Roman Komogortsev, and Pavel Kozlov—quickly drew attention with their dark, synth-laden melodies, echoing the shadows of 1980s new wave.
Their breakthrough in 2020 brought a whirlwind of extremes: the upheaval of leaving Minsk contrasted with the thrill of headlining global stages. Amidst this chaos, they found a new home in Los Angeles, where they wrote Belaya Polosa. This fourth album stands as a celebration of resilience, a love letter to the digital rhythms of the ’90s, and a vivid reinvention of their somber, dance floor anthems.
“The entire album is a prism through which we tried to reflect what has happened to us,” the band says of their new work.
The album’s first single, Son, is a raw exploration of anxiety, disappointment, hopelessness, and fear. It unfolds like a dream, capturing the unsettling experience of venturing into the unknown with no hope of return. The lyrics paint a bleak, apocalyptic landscape where hope has withered and salvation is a distant memory. In this desolate world, the speaker clings to a haunting, enigmatic dream, willing to alter their entire life for its elusive promise. The wind, given a voice, whispers urgings to tempt fate and press on, even as it erases the footprints left behind.
“Son was written before each group member experienced significant life changes, including a move to a new and unfamiliar country,” says the band. “It reflects the destruction of everything once familiar. The video aims to capture the emotion of leaving for the unknown, knowing there is no return to your old life.”
The video, directed by Bryan M. Ferguson, takes us on a journey through a remote pyramid in the Scottish Highlands and Assumption Studios in Glasgow. Here, we see a person drifting into sleep at the wheel, only to encounter a doppelgänger, universal truths, and a massive pyramid—each a symbol of the vast and mysterious unconscious. This visual narrative invites us to explore the deeper layers of our psyche, where our true selves reside, untouched by the illusions of the waking world.
“It’s about a dream that feels like reality, and that dream bleeding into real life,” says Ferguson. ‘The themes of Son are universal and they bleed into the video through a Lynchian style odyssey of alienation. Our protagonist discovers an isolated stone pyramid in the middle of a dreamlike state, breaking the boundaries of reality by entering the structure through liquid and light to be met with darkness. I wanted to make something emotionally charged but atmospheric to match the song.”
Watch the video for “Son” below:
Kamahortsau once again handled the production duties, although the mood and sound on Belaya Polosa is markedly different from past albums, although they do retain their trademark cold minimalist delivery. The basement grime and dirty tape-head sound of their previous work, emulating that Eastern Bloc sound of the Soviet era, are now making space for digital luster and shimmering production values.
Moving on from the band’s past sound was only natural given the album’s themes of change and turning away from a troubled past into an uncertain future. “It’s a different band,” a member of Molchat Doma says. “A different sound and context, but the same style and the same emotions.”
‘Belaya Polosa’ will be released on September 6th via Sacred Bones. Pre-order here.
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