About

Monnone Alone Circa 2025

The long-awaited fourth Monnone Alone album Here Comes the Afternoon is on its way and set to reach landfall on Friday, May 2. 

The former Lucksmiths bassist and Lost and Lonesome label chief Mark Monnone has dipped a toe in a few musical ponds over his life’s meandering journey, having toured and recorded extensively with the likes of Sally Seltmann, Mighty Duke & the Lords and Geoffrey O’Connor as well as international underground heroes Still Flyin’, Chris Cohen and Sonny & The Sunsets. But it’s his twenty-year-young solo-project-cum-four-piece-band that has morphed into a fully blown concern in recent years, culminating in the release of Here Comes the Afternoon.

Deviating from the straight-ahead powerpop of 2019’s Summer of the Mosquito and the locked-down bedroom pop of Stay Foggy (2021), the new album delves into some gentle psychedelia and sunshine pop whilst touching ever so fondly upon The Apples in Stereo, The Who, The Cure, The Bats and yes, Happy Mondays!

Recent single ‘Dry Doubt’ is a fuzzy guitar-led party singalong about a family of long forgotten domesticated fish which Start Track blog suggested sounds “like The Stone Roses collaborating with The Brian Jonestown Massacre”. The song features Monnone Alone alumni Isobel Knowles, Connal Parsley and Darren Cordeux all on backing vocals.

Lovingly and languorously crafted over the past six years, the new album was predominantly recorded by the band on 8-track cassette in both their rehearsal space and their shabby-chic backyard studio Stock Cube in the inner-northern Melbourne suburb of Coburg.

The Monnone Alone core line-up of Mark Monnone, Gus Franklin, Joe Foley and Louis Richter are joined on this joyously ramshacklin’ affair by erstwhile Aloners of yesteryear like Darren Hanlon, Steph Hughes, Connal Parsley and Lehmann B. Smith as well as members of The Icypoles, The Ladybug Transistor, Kisschasy, Fred Astereo and Personal & the Pizzas.

Longtime Monnone Alone producer Gareth Parton donned his mixer’s cap once again with the band’s drumming all-rounder Gus Franklin as ever sweeping all manner of magic dust into the album’s hidden crevices.

REVIEWS

“One of Australia’s most unheralded songwriters, former Lucksmith Mark Monnone, is back with a new single from his band (Monnone Alone ain’t alone) and it’s a wild and fun blast” — Dagger Zine

“Like The Stone Roses collaborating with The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Melbourne, Australia’s Monnone Alone’s new single Dry Doubt is a shuffley, frenetic, expressive rock track with personality by the bucketload” — Start Track

“Intoxicating and carefree new single from well-esteemed veteran Aussie popsters that thrives on a loosened roll of crisp percussions and groovy rambling, fuzzy guitar licks” — White Light / White Heat

“Album opener and new single ‘Dry Doubt’ suggests ‘Loose Terrain’ was anything but a flash in the pan, so the [album release] date can’t arrive soon enough”

 – Various Small Flames

“Stay Foggy thrives on the juxtaposition of all manner of Indie Australiana and the best of the mid-90s Lemonheads / Evan Dando-style slacker pop.” – JanglePopHub

“Shifting effortlessly among powerpop, jangle pop, British Invasion, folk rock, psychedelic pop, and post punk, the album is a delightful assemblage of hooks, melodies and just damn good songs.” – When You Motor Away

“One could fit Summer of the Mosquito right next to the best work of Matthew Sweet, Velvet Crush, or Teenage Fanclub and not notice any drop in quality. It’s that good. A batch of songs that punch through the speakers with vigour and imprint their melodies like a tattoo of the sun.” 
– All Music

“This is where power-pop is meant to hang out, bursting with melody and lightly jangling guitar chords. This record is great. It’s every thing I needed in my life at this very moment.” – Austin Town Hall

 “’Cut Knuckle’, a gorgeously catchy jangler filled with 12-string strums and a chorus that seems ready to poke through the sky. The song stands alongside new cuts from The Chills and The Bats as an extension of the Aus/NZ jangle-pop prominence that bubbled over between ’86 and ’90.“ 
– Raven Sings The Blues

“It is no accident that Monnone, who had a strong hand in some early century summer radio hits, has a sturdy set of melodic chops when fronting his own outfit.” – X-Press Mag


Monnone Aloners past, present, future:

James Ausfahrt, Bongo Ger, Drew Cramer, Neil Erenstrom, Joe Foley, Kyle Forester, Gus Franklin, Brian Girgus, Darren Hanlon, Hotdog, Hotrod, Stephanie Hughes, Matt Jones, Hamish Kilgour, Isobel Knowles, Utrillo Kushner, Charlie Layton, Linton, Ryan McPhun, Lara Meyerratken, Geoffrey O’Connor, Gary Olson, One Happy Island, Connal Parsley, Julian Patterson, Stanley Paulzen, Louis Richter, Bec Rigby, Gabe Saucedo, Lehmann B. Smith, Alicia Vanden Heuvel…

Find our music at these fine labels:

Australia – Lost And Lonesome
USA – Repeating Cloud / Emotional Response
Spain – Meritorio
UK – Safe Suburban Home
Finland – Royal Mint