BIOGRAPHY
Timothy Monger is a musician and writer living in Ypsilanti, Michigan. He has recorded four solo albums ranging in style from lush baroque pop to pastoral folk and harmony-driven indie rock. He first established himself in the mid-2000s as a member of the cult classic Ann Arbor band Great Lakes Myth Society which he co-founded with his brother James Christopher Monger. The roots of this band lay in another pioneering ensemble the brothers had previously helmed called the Original Brothers and Sisters of Love. Under that name they released a pair of wildly eccentric folk-rock LPs for Brooklyn indie the Telegraph Company (Kelley Stoltz, Stew) before disbanding in 2003.
Prior to launching Great Lakes Myth Society, Monger issued his solo debut, Summer Cherry Ghosts, in the summer of 2004. The lush chamber pop song cycle earned comparisons to the Beach Boys, Electric Light Orchestra, and early Bee Gees and was re-released in Japan the following year by the Trolley Bus label. By early 2005, Great Lakes Myth Society had emerged with their self-titled debut. Fusing elegant XTC-inspired pop with a distinctly Midwestern rock sensibility, the band soon signed to Michigan indie Quack! Media which issued their acclaimed sophomore effort, Compass Rose Bouquet, in 2007. The three years that followed included a run of national tours, annual appearances at SXSW and shows with Patti Smith, British Sea Power, the Hidden Cameras, and the Walkmen among many others.
In 2010, with Great Lakes Myth Society entering a hiatus, Monger completed sessions for his solo follow-up and formed the first edition of his band, Timothy Monger State Park. Released in the summer of 2011, The New Britton Sound combined rustic-toned indie pop with lyrical folk-rock, taking its name from the rural farming town of Britton, Michigan where the bulk of it was recorded and written. The inaugural release on his own Northern Detective imprint, the album was a stylistic leap forward for Monger, moving away from the orchestral leanings of his debut in favor of a more organic, yet still sophisticated sound.
Over the next few years, he continued to write and record new solo material while also reuniting for a pair of Great Lakes Myth Society shows. He also worked as a session musician, playing accordion on tracks by Detroit rockers like Electric Six and the High Strung as well as Pittsburgh punks the Cynics and rock legend Patti Smith.
Written and recorded over a four year period, Monger's third album, Amber Lantern, stylistically melded classic singer/songwriter architecture with psych-rock, power pop, and synth-pop. Released in early 2017, the record explored themes of hope, struggle, and personal revelation with poignant observations that celebrated the weird odyssey of the self.
In early 2021, Monger took something of a detour with the release of Log Variations, an experimental side project that fused audio collage and musique concrete techniques with burning campfire sounds. The project also featured visual components including several videos and an ongoing Instagram account devoted solely to log and fire images. That same year, Monger's long-running live band, Timothy Monger State Park, issued their first official release as a studio entity. A exultant blend of melodic psych-rock and power pop, the group’s debut EP, Knight Errand was released that October. All of this coincided with a renewed solo vision as Monger began recording his fourth album at home, entirely on his own.
Abandoning the introspective style of Amber Lantern, he combed his notebooks for outliers, misfits, and endearing idea fragments which were lovingly assembled into a homespun anthology of weird delights. DIY in spirit, but lushly produced, Monger's fourth album leans heavily into his accumulated hodgepodge of quirks. Bits of psychedelia, '70s pop, folk, French chanson, and even Celtic are represented amid its 12 songs. He handled all of the instruments himself and the few parts he couldn't manage he farmed out to friends including Kalamazoo fiddler Samantha Cooper, his Great Lakes Myth Society bandmates, and New York composer/activist Jesse Paris Smith. Joyful in its eccentricity, it's an album that celebrates literature, nature, offbeat characters, and an abiding love of the arcane. Of all his releases, it is the one most representative of Monger's personal philosophy and bears only his name for a title. His eponymous fourth album was released in June 2023.
Monger’s next project was an autobiographical work spanning music, prose, and photos. A commission for the Ann Arbor District Library as part of it’s bicentennial project, Last Known Address consists of six brief songs all related to Monger’s life and history within the city. Accompanying each song is an archival photo and essay expanding on its subject. The completed project was added to the library’s website in November 2024 where it will live in perpetuity along with the 199 other submitted projects to Ann Arbor 200. The musical portion was also released on its own as a digital EP.