The New Monarchs began as a conventional four-piece rock combo, but they didn’t stay conventional for long, boiling down to a two-man electronic collaboration between lyricist-guitarist Sean Morrissey and multi-instrumentalist Taylor Nelson. The duo’s 2008 debut, Blueprints, married glossy, processed beats with heart-on-sleeve, emotion-drenched pop, creating a sound the duo refined further on 2010’s five-song Electrocaching. In 2012, the tech-savvy tweakers released their second full length album, Stay Awake, which used its electronic, synth-driven rock to capture a lot of different moods - boasting considerable smarts and technical proficiency as well as infectious, groovy dance rock feels. The duo continued to work on other projects after 2012, Nelson forming groups Wiping Out Thousands and Tired Tongues and Morrissey forming synth-pop act Astronomique with Electrocaching co-collaborator Logan Andra Fongemie in addition to synthwave group Night Audit.