San Diego Psych-Rockers Create A Synth-Soaked Joyride On Their Third Album

Song of the Day: “Moving Through a Dream” by Monarch

Aug 13, 2026

San Diego’s own Monarch are back with their third full-length album, MA3 (released on July 24, 2026), proving once and for all that they didn’t spend the years following 2019’s Beyond the Blue Sky just sitting on a beach eating fish tacos. Their debut Two Isles (2016) established their foundational love for classic psych-rock and spacey jams, and its aforementioned follow-up leaned hard into sprawling progressive arrangements, building them a reputation for sprawling, guitar-heavy space jams and harmony-drenched live sets. Their trajectory has always pointed toward cosmic exploration, but while their earlier eras relied heavily on organic, sweat-soaked rock theatrics, they have now made room for the sleek keyboard machinery they lean on today.

MA3 finds Monarch gleefully trading some of their traditional six-string sprawl for a highly-textured synth-rock makeover. It is a calculated evolution that swaps out some of the garage-band fuzz for crisp synthesizers and tighter, more streamlined arrangements. Instead of getting lost in twenty-minute progressive wandering, the trio anchors their signature psych foundations with pulsing atmospheric rhythms, proving that they are entirely willing to risk alienating purists just to have a bit more synth-driven fun in the studio.

Amidst this shiny new sonic experiment, the track “Moving Through a Dream” is easily one of the more interesting moments on the record. Where other tracks occasionally get tangled up in their own stylistic pivots, this song (originally released as a single over a year ago) nails the landing by perfectly marrying their heavier rhythmic backbone with an effortless, infectious groove. It relies on lush synth layers and sharp melodies rather than overcomplicated passages, giving the album a precise emotional anchor that proves Monarch’s electronic makeover was a worthwhile gamble, and sets a new expanded foundation for whatever’s to come next.