Ducktails

Ducktails is the solo project of Matthew Mondanile, a US artist from Ridgewood, New Jersey, and a founding member of Real Estate. The project develops alongside his work in several other acts, including Predator Vision and the Parasails.

Style and early releases

Ducktails begins with a lo-fi, fragmentary approach that sits close to the sun-warmed indie pop associated with Real Estate, but with a more scattered and changeable character. Mondanile releases a large amount of early material in the form of cassette tapes and CD-Rs, along with two 7-inch singles and two first LPs: Ducktails on Not Not Fun and Landscapes on Olde English Spelling Bee.

Development as a recording project

After a split release with Dracula Lewis in 2010, Ducktails issues Ducktails III: Arcade Dynamics in 2011, which shifts towards a more stripped-back sound and marks a clear change in direction. In 2013, The Flower Lane appears on Domino Recordings and moves further from the project’s bedroom origins, using a full band and a more conventional mellow pop format. Later that year, the five-song EP Wish Hotel follows in the same polished style.

Later albums and collaborators

The 2015 album St. Catherine continues in a refined psychedelic pop direction. Rob Schnapf produces the record, bringing added warmth and clarity, and the album includes guest appearances from James Ferraro and Julia Holter. Mondanile leaves Real Estate in 2016. The following year, Jersey Devil is released on his own New Images label; it starts in Los Angeles and is completed after he returns to Ridgewood. Its collaborators include co-producer John Anderson and Chi Yoon Hae of Parasol, who travels from South Korea to play bass.