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Quiet Domino is a new indietronica hubbub and freak-pop expression, whose debut single ‘Metropelium’ drew its inspiration from new musings on a hometown city. Founded in San Francisco, this is the new project of singer-songwriter-reckoner Mark Nelsen… a new persona… a trial… a groovy menace tucked within his Saturn return. Filmed in downtown Los Angeles, the accompanying video, which is directed by Andrew Herwitz and produced by Onema Pictures, stars LA-based model and musician Victoria Murdok, who became friends with Nelsen at a show he played in LA.

Mark Nelsen’s unpredictable live shows and knack for writing and producing genre-blending songs led him to create his debut single as Quiet Domino. Over the past few years, he has become known as a solo acoustic performer of expressive folk-pop and also as a member of several Bay Area psychedelic rock bands, namely Dooms Virginia and Annie Girl & The Flight.
This soulful tune ‘Metropelium’ – pronounced ‘Meh-trHop-Eh-Lee-Um’ – is a word he made up, combining ’Metropolis’ and ‘Mausoleum’ to describe the modern city experience. The narrator wonders what the city’s dreams have manifested in this modern age – an age where we are all dancing while simultaneously on our phones; comfortably disengaging from each other while yearning for true connection. Plug in or unplug? Stay or go? The city moves with you.

“The internet has become our Mausoleum of recycled Metropolitan culture. Our experience is ‘Metropelium’,” says Mark Nelsen. “Why do we continue to dance atop a cultural veneer?”The track’s realization had to await its synths, electronic beats and studio matrimony with keyboardist / producer Devin Farney. Inspired by the likes of LCD Soundsystem, MGMT, Washed Out, Black Moth Super Rainbow and Foster The People, the result is a sonically lush hybrid cocktail with illustrious hints of Moby, Black Keys, Flaming Lips and Thom Yorke.

This experimentation eventually gave birth to the project and a fresh live set. Quiet Domino currently performs as a one-man band with synth, vocal loops, guitar, and a drum machine – occasionally joined by a few backing players.