Molchat Doma, founded in Minsk, Belarus, in 2017 and now based in Los Angeles, stands at the intersection of post-punk, new wave, and synth-pop. Dark yet danceable and with a hefty dose of gothic ethos, their music recalls the masters before them, but make no mistake: Molchat Doma creates a sound and significance that is instantly recognizable as their own.
The band consists of Egor Shkutko, who sings the Russian lyrics in his deep monotone, Roman Komogortsev on guitar, synthesizers, and drum machine, and Pavel Kozlov on bass and synthesizers. The band's influences include Russian groups from the Perestroika era such as Kino, as well as post-punk and synth-pop greats like The Cure, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Depeche Mode, and The Human League.
Molchat Doma released their first two albums, which made the band's name known through word of mouth, before Sacred Bones signed the band in early 2020. Their third album, Monument, was released in 2020.
Molchat Doma went viral in 2020, generating over a million views on YouTube and becoming a true phenomenon on Bandcamp. Later that same year, a track from their second album went viral on TikTok. The song has since appeared in hundreds of thousands of videos on the platform. The track reached number two on the Spotify Global Viral Charts and number one on the United States Viral Charts. The album Monument made it to number 21 on the Billboard 200 and the Top Heatseekers chart.
The band spent most of 2022 and 2023 on a world tour through North and South America, the UK, Europe, and Australia, playing sold-out shows in large venues like Terminal 5 in New York, the Shrine Expo Hall in LA, the Kentish Town Forum O2 in London, and at festivals like Coachella, Cruel World, and Primavera. Now, the band is returning and will be touring again from late 2024 to late 2025.