Producer and DJ born in Boston and now based in Lisbon M.O.O.N. presents his powerful and atmospheric “Ven! See!!» album: the first LP of ‘M.O.O.N.’ in almost 5 years.
Released on May 18, M.O.O.N. describes ‘Come! See!!’ as «a therapy session in album form» as it reopens the M.O.O.N. chapter of his life, exploring new directions and old processes to present a look at how he has evolved in the decade since the first MOON EP, which became a cult classic following its inclusion in the computer game ‘Hotline Miami. ‘.
We have had the pleasure of interviewing M.O.O.N. and this has been the result.
Hi there! Where are you right now?
I’m in beautiful Lisboa, Portugal!
How did you start your day?
I walked my dog through my neighborhood, made myself a coffee and a spliff, ate a clementine, and sat down to answer these questions.
When did the idea of starting a project start to take shape? Has it always been something you wanted to do?
This album started when I moved my back catalog from one distributor to another. I had to go through all my old masters and listen, and I realized that I missed making music the way I used to, before I ended the M.O.O.N. project in 2017. That lead to going through old unfinished ideas and writing some new ones for fun. At a certain point I nearly had a record done and then I started to consider the idea of releasing it.
How would you define the sound of your latest work? What is the concept behind?
This record definitely has a through-line to my old work, certainly in terms of arrangement and how I develop a track. Sound-wise I would say it’s a bit more developed than what I’ve done previously with this project. I work with more audio and fewer synthesizers, leading to a more organic, less strictly digital sound.
What artists are you interested in these days?
I’m so far out of the routine of going to The Club after the last two years that I don’t find myself listening to a lot of dance music in my normal life. What I am exposed to is mostly the stuff coming from my friends and other locals here in Lisboa. Violet, Shcuro (who did the design for the new album!), Phoebe, Photonz, Bleid, the whole Principe collective. I’ve also been listening to a lot of Brazilian music, a consequence of living in my neighborhood!
How do you manage to combine such disparate genres? How do you manage to give them unity and harmony? What do they have in common for you?
Oh god, I’m not sure I always do such a good job of it honestly. I have always envied those artist who are hyper-focused on one area of music, and just can really explore and perfect their sound within that genre. I have just always listened to such a variety of stuff, and been more of a jack-of-all-trades, master of none. I think I approach arrangement in the same way across genres however, which gives the song a certain pace and feeling.
How would you define your sound?
Easy listening.
Can you tell us something about your current or future projects?
My album as M.O.O.N., ‘Come! See!!’ recently came out and I should have new music out under my side project Was Fret later this year as well. Was Fret is a collaboration between myself and my good friend Kevin Abdella, who is a phenomenal engineer and musician in his own right. He also mixed and mastered ‘Come! See!!’
Listen to M.O.O.N. ‘Come! See!!!’ LP HERE
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