Michelle Morales has played the cello for numerous bands such as Phillip Glass, Foo Fighters, even Kanye West.  Miles Benjamin plays the drums at night, runs the Chicago company Kilo Records by day, and plays with All Things Lucid in between it all.  How does it all come together?  Chicago band the Loneliest Monk.  Michelle and Miles joined forces to make the uncommon duo the Loneliest Monk, a series of well-balanced contrasts being performed in a most unique way.  Michelle brings the tender strings of her cello against Miles’s deep drums and it’s so different that it works.  Which is why they are so hard to describe.  Watching and listening to this band is an experience all of it’s own.  They go above the standard “get on stage and play” show and make it an experience – costumes, sets, masks, the works.  Their debut album The Loneliest Monk embodies their avant-garde style and makes it available to all.  They don’t need more than a drum set, a cello, and some keyboards.  All they need is their sense of style and talent to wow an audience any time, any where.

The Loneliest Monk is playing in Chicago Friday, October 8 at Mayne Stage with Zach Pietrini & the Broken Bones, In Tall Buildings, and Drew Andrews (of the Album Leaf and Via Satellite) in his new band Drew Andrews & the Spectral Cities.  Snag a download of their single “You Don’t Have to Try” below.  The Loneliest Monk is out now on Kilo Records.