Cime (“Death” in Mayan) is the solo project of the eponymous Monty Cime, a transfemme Honduran multi-instrumentalist based out of southern California. While musically active since at least 2015-2016 under different projects, Cime began in earnest following the dissolution of post-punk outfit Costco Boyfriend, which she led, in April of 2021. Monty, always a careful songwriter, would approach songwriting for her new venture very restrictively, even going so far as to develop a rubric to philosophically guide the songwriting. From requiring a justification for instrumentation and influence as well as a rhetorical analysis as to how the instrumental composition enhances the lyrical content and themes of the track, a process inspired by the school of nueva canción Latinoamericana composers, the songwriting process was as, if not more, important than the end result. Seeking to carry on where they left off, Monty integrated contemporary musical influences which she felt fit into the heart of the movement, such as post-hardcore, noise rock, and post-punk, half-jokingly naming the style “New Latin Muzak.”

After months of Monty writing and recording tracks in her home studio, Cime would see its first singles, “Compay” and “By the Bunches,” released in November and December respectively of that same year. After contracting DJ Rozwell of KFC Murder Chicks fame to produce her debut, and with contributions from Las Vegas skramz band Crochet, Uruguay-based experimental rapper El Cafe Atómico, neighbor and fellow multi-instrumentalist Composition Booklet, AKA Aron Farkas (who would later go on to form Clay Birds), Cime’s debut album, The Independence of Central America Remains an Unfinished Experiment, would be released on July 1, 2022 to a polarized reception reflective of the equally polarizing conceptual influences which Monty had in the process of making the album–perhaps most prominently, Foxygen and DJ Rozwell himself. The album, an unapologetically unwelcoming allegory about Cime’s life dressed in the language and history of Central America, was loose and unpolished by design, the cacophonous instrumentation serving as a parallel to a chaotic history. It put off people on both sides of the aisle—folk and rock listeners—resulting in a small, yet passionate self-selected audience of those who cared to dig deep into the writing of the project while also appreciating the musicality.

With the release of the album came the beginning of Cime's career as a live band. Starting out as a two-piece act alongside the aforementioned Aron Farkas, by the end of the year the band played across Southern California and Las Vegas and grew into a five-piece band with the inclusion of Jay Ingram, Jack von Bloeker V, and Diego Gonzalez, releasing a handful of live singles to reflect this.

These shows would continue into the new year as Monty began writing a new project penned in direct response to many of the criticisms of her debut, seeking not to correct them but to reclaim them. The first original track to be released since TICARUE would be "Yoro," which came out on May 12, 2023 on a four-band split EP titled Trans Folk: A Four-Way Split, a release which Monty organized between herself and three of her friends. After this, Monty would continue writing, arranging, and recording her follow-up EP, Laurels of the End of History, which would eventually release on August 18th to near-universal fanfare, broadening her audience and legitimizing her as a songwriter. In taking the style she had conceived in her debut and flipping it on its head, taking influences from Western classical, plunderphonics, and jazz fusion, as well as by arranging parts for up to 25-person orchestras for each individual song, Monty sought to create the sound of a new history for Central America, a thesis reflected in the hauntological approach to production.

On this same day, Cime would play an album release show with three new members added since the beginning of the year: Rowan Collins and Ian Dennis (the two of whom were Monty's former bandmates in Costco Boyfriend) and Sean Hoss—this being his inaugural show with Cime. Conversely, this was also the farewell show for Aron, Diego, and Jack (who was unfortunately unable to attend), and thus the importance of this show as a pivotal moment in the band's history was noted by Monty, who decided that this would be the basis for their first live album. Representing the band's divergence from their studio sound and growth after over a year of live performance, and with production work from close friends of Monty, Lautaro Akira Martinez-Satoh (Loto) and Alma Garcia (Hashirat), Frida and the Filibusters Bid Farewell and Fall Asunder would release on December 1st, 2023.

Cime walks a fine line between a band, a solo project, and a vision to songwriting which will never die.