News

Portuguese sister duo PEGA MONSTRO announce UK tour this summer + share ‘Branca’ video, taken from Alfarroba released 6th July via Upset The Rhythm‏

June 11, 2015
Sara Rafael

Sara Rafael

 

PEGA MONSTRO
Announce UK live datesNew album Alfarroba released 6th July

Watch ‘Branca’ Video“We love Pega Monstro” – Crack Magazine

Having announced their new record, Alfarroba via Panda Bear’s Gorilla Vs Beartakeover last month, Portuguese sisters Pega Monstro are happy to share that they are finally coming to the UK this summer! They will play a headline show at London’s Victoria in Dalston on 15th August, as well as supporting Deerhoof at Tufnell Park Dome. More dates will be added soon, watch this space…Saturday 15th August – UK, London, VICTORIA
Sunday 23rd August – UK, Ramsgate, POP IN OPPOSITION FESTIVAL
Tuesday 25th August – UK, London, TUFNELL PARK DOME (W/DEERHOOF) 

To celebrate they’ve shared the video for ‘Branca’; two minutes of garage-pop heaven. Watch it below…

 

Pega Monstro is  Júlia Reis (drums) and Maria Reis (guitar, keyboard). The duo’s name translates as ‘catch the monster’, perfectly countering the band’s striving dream-punk sound. Born and raised in Lisbon, Portugal, Maria and Júlia have been playing music together since they were 15 and 17 respectively, in other groups first before resolving on becoming a duo. Back in 2010, both sisters started a record label, along with some of their musician friends, called Cafetra Records to document Portugal’s garage punk scene. Cafetra represents a community of like-minded musicians who all help each other, making music that they’d want to hear, powered by enthusiasm.

Pega Monstro were among the first bands on the label, releasing their ‘O Juno-60 Nunca Teve Fita’ EP the same year to a burgeoning audience of devotees, who’d turn up in growing numbers to each show and sing back the lyrics. Maria puts the band’s instant attention down to being different, “we were girls, we were young and we could rock, people weren’t used to that at all”. 2012 saw Pega Monstro release their self-titled debut album, which was produced by B Fachada, an extremely well known Portuguese singer songwriter. The band and producer hit it off like wildfire and recorded an impressive, raucous debut record that met with critical national acclaim.

Now Pega Monstro have a new album ready for Upset The Rhythm, whom they hope will bring their music to audiences outside of their homeland too. ‘Alfarroba’ is the name of this second album, it’s title meaning ‘carob’, after the sweet tasting bean that grows in the wild trees that spontaneously spring up along the Mediterranean coast.

Maria explains further, “In Portugal there are a lot of carob trees in the Algarve and our mother’s side of the family is from there, we spent every summer there as children. The scent is unlike any other. So apart from the phonetic appeal of the word, ‘Alfarroba’ is also a homage to that heritage”. The songs on ‘Alfarroba’ deal with many themes, some universal topics like love and growing up, others focusing on the nature of writing songs themselves, whilst some try to make sense of the world from a female perspective.

Pega Monstro make rapturous music, it’s brisk, it’s contagious, it laughs at the language barrier and just keeps running headlong into more and more new ideas. ‘Alfarroba’ is not an exhaustive listen given that though, it’s more like an antidote than an endless anecdote, as restless, impulsive and smart as the band that made it. ‘Alfarroba’ by Pega Monstro will be released on July 6th through Upset The Rhythm worldwide, whilst the band themselves have European tour plans throughout the summer.

Tracklisting:
01. Braço de Ferro
02. Branca
03. Não Consegues
04. És Tudo O Que Eu Queria
05. Fiz Esta Canção
06. Estrada
07. És Tu, Já Sei
08. Amêndoa Amarga
09. Fado D’Água Fria
10. Voltas Para Trás

Preorder:
http://upsettherhythm.bigcartel.com/product/pega-monstro-alfarroba-pre-order

CONNECT
https://pegamonstro.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/pegamonstroband

You Might Also Like

No Comments

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.