The bellowing synths shake the building to its core, rattling the bones of thousands of concert goers as multicolored lights glide and strobe over the audience.
On February 15th, 2025, three Triton Voice reporters along with two other students made the trek in the midst of a snowstorm from Byfield to Boston to see the synth-pop, post-punk band Molchat Doma. As a long time fan of the band, Matthew Mollica was extremely excited to finally see them live, and it did not disappoint.
“It was one of the best concerts I’ve been to in terms of energy,” said Mollica. “How small the venue was made it a little more personal, it was kind of a cool connection to the culture because, you know, the band doesn’t speak english.”
Molchat Doma, formed in 2017 in Belarus, Minsk, is composed of three soul members; Egor Shkutko (vocals), Roman Komogortsev (guitar, synthesizer, drum machine), and Pavel Kozlov (bass guitar, synthesizer). This is a band many have probably never heard of, which is likely due to their fan base being mostly Russian because all of their lyrics are in Russian.
Despite the lyrics, the band is comprised of chilling deep monotone vocals from Egor, and heavy-hitting synths that you can feel throughout your whole body. Their sound is often compared to the sound of bands like Joy Division, New Order and The Cure. Direct comparisons have been made to Joy Division specifically because of the lead singer’s voice which is similar to Egors of Molchat Doma. The band was formed in 2017 which is the same year they released their first studio album, “С крыш наших домов”which translates to “From The Roofs of Our Houses.” However, it wasn’t until 2020 when their song Судно blew up on TikTok and they finally started to get the recognition they deserve.
Like most people, we first heard of Molchat Doma when they exploded in 2020 on social media. Since then we have been loosely following and listening to some of their music.
It wasn’t until literal days before the concert that we found out Molchat Doma was performing in Boston. We found out from a friend of ours who saw them in concert 4 days before we did in Washington D.C. and posted about it. We were quick to jump at the opportunity to get tickets since they were almost sold out, which may be one of the best decisions we ever made.
It was apparent from the moment we got into the car and it started snowing that this was going to be a special concert.
The concert venue, Roadrunner Boston, was the perfect place to experience a concert like this. It was like a small bar with general admission as well as balcony views which you had to pay extra for. We made our way to the front of the general admission area to experience the opening band, Sextile, which was not our cup of tea. There was a long pause between the opening band and Molchat Doma, during that time we saw that there was nobody regulating who went up the stairs for the balcony view. Sure enough we were able to get up there just in time for Molchat Doma to come on. The concert was a surreal experience for us five friends.
“Their music really makes you think,” said William Hight. The way the band controlled the whole atmosphere in that small theater with their lasers, lights and deeply striking sounds was like nothing we have ever experienced.
The standout performance for me were their songs Сон / Son and Дискотека / Discoteque. When the song Сон / Son came on I remember thinking, I have no idea what he is singing about but for some reason it’s still the most beautiful thing i’ve ever heard. The chilling, gut-wrenching vocals from that song accompanied by the beautiful synths made for a great performance. The song Дискотека / Discoteque really got the whole place moving, it’s an upbeat dance song and everybody there was feeling it.
The concert really had a profound effect on everyone there, and we have been thinking about that experience everyday since. If you have never heard any of Molchat Doma’s music, please check it out, you will not regret it.
