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As Zoon, Daniel Monkman gave shoegaze an urgent shot in the arm with Bleached Wavves, an album released in 2020 informed as much by My Bloody Valentine as Monkman's Anishinaabe heritage. Two years later, Monkman teamed up with Status / Non Status, a fellow Anishinaabe musician, for OMBIIGIZI; on their excellent debut Sewn Back Together, Monkman flourished in collaboration and cast aside any trace of tentative impulses and shaped the compelling dreaminess of their voice into something more lucid.
For his new EP as Zoon, Big Pharma, Monkman seems eager to keep that spark ignited by teamwork alive. The five-track EP, out June 21 via Paper Bag Records, contains features from Cadence Weapon, Michael Peter Olsen, Sunsetter, and Jasmine Trails. The project's just-released lead single "Astum" leans on Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, a Mississauga Nishnaabeg musician and author; the song's title means "hurry up," in Cree, but it's not in any rush. A meditation on loss transmitted by some lonely, freshly-sentient satellite, "Astum" is content to drift on the placid back of its Yo La Tengo-esque currents, stuck in the paradox of seeking the most meaningful answers while expecting no closure.
In a press release, Monkman described "Astum" as a song that "touches on active addiction and the challenges that it brings to an individual." He continued: "While in active addiction, it’s extremely difficult to function in the known society and it leaves you feeling even more lost. I reflect on how it’s really sad and you watch a lot of good people leave because its impossible to keep a firm grasp on reality. You're longing for a great relationship but know it could never happen because you're constantly trying to numb out past traumas."
