Feature photo: Cara Robbins
Look. I get it. It’s difficult, damn near impossible even, to avoid the streaming-new-music-at-your-fingertips-24-7-365-have-everything-instantly-available-forget-about-a-seven-minute-song-when-does-the-next-album-drop culture that we’ve created for ourselves, but stop. Seriously. Just stop. For like, let’s say, oh I don’t know, seven minutes. Take in the beauty of what Lo Moon has the stones to produce in our short-attention-span-doesn’t-even-scratch-the-surface musical environment that exists right now. Mysteriously ethereal while somehow simultaneously grounded, the first two tracks are an indicator that the forthcoming LP will indeed be an epic journey into musical exploration and education.
Their approach to music, the business of music, the industry as a whole, the ironic nowness of it all, the way Lo Moon finds a way to approach it their way is something I find so refreshing. And who has time to sit through an entire album anyway? Check out their visuals for Loveless below:
7 Minutes in Heaven, am I right? With a video assist from Brighton-based artist Davy Evans, Lo Moon might be just what we need: a proverbial slap in the face to just chill for a second and enjoy our present moment. The band consists of Matt Lowell (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Crisanta Baker (guitar, bass, keyboards and backing vocals), and multi-instrumentalist Samuel Stewart. Fun fact: Stewart is the son of Eurythmics’ Dave Stewart. I know, right? Super fun! We caught up with Matt, who took time out from Yelping Yogurtlands in California rest stops and Sushi spots in Denver to reply to a few questions via email on their way to Lollapalooza this weekend.
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What are you guys up to this week leading up to Lollapalooza?
We are actually playing some shows w London Grammar and Glass Animals. We are very excited!
Are you excited to travel to Chicago? Any plans to explore the city while you’re here?
We love Chicago. We were in the Wicker Park area in February playing Subterranean. It was weirdly really hot out. We won’t have much time this time around, because we will get in late Saturday and are playing Sunday and then have to be off pretty quickly Monday.
The three of you are all from different parts of the world. What role, if any, have your respective cities played in developing your sound, beyond the Los Angeles and Seattle vibes?
I think we all have a real unique spirit about us musically, and it’s different for each one of us. I think we all bring that to the band and I’m sure it’s all a bit informed by the different parts of the world we grew up in. I do think we all have our specific touchstones from the music around us growing up and I’m sure they’ve all found their way into what we do!
In our current age of short attention spans and 141-character mentality, was it a conscious decision to release your music the way you have? Make people stop and pay attention? Make them stop and slow down for a new, epic song for once? I love the approach and respect it so much. Please elaborate on your process leading up to releasing music to the masses…
I think we just felt that if we’re gonna release a 7 minute first single then we better give it time because we know the musical climate we’re in! We know like anything it would take time for people to digest it and soak it in and we were totally okay with that. We didn’t rush the process of making the song and we thought why should we rush the process of releasing music? It’s hard to get everyone to really commit to it, but I think it’s been great for us in the initial stages. It’s been a slow discovery process and we feel that the people connecting to the band’s world are here because they have found the music and taken real ownership of it, and we love that.
The quality over quantity ideology has never been more true in the case of a band’s catalog. Loveless and This Is It are your two songs currently available to the public. Will you be playing music from your (highly-anticipated) LP at Lollapalooza?
Yes we will be playing lots of material from the LP. We love that we can share it live first.
How did you arrive on the name Lo Moon? Is it a nod to one of the moons of Jupiter?
The name comes from my nephew Lowell Moon Hum. He is a special little boy and I wanted to name the band after him.
I read that Loveless was a project four and a half years in the making. Some artists nowadays are putting out 2-3 albums in that same timeframe. First of all, is that 4 1/2 years for Loveless bit true? And second, does the concept of time ever creep into the studio with you?
It is true! Time for me has the tendency to make things better. I’ll say this- if Loveless came out 4.5 years ago we wouldn’t have been able to get the album we are finishing up now. We needed to develop. My writing needed to develop, my vision for the band needed to develop, and more time means more experience, and I am so happy we waited. It was the best decision for us as a band, and certainly for me personally.
Photo: Jonathan Weiner
Switching gears to something a little more lighthearted: what do you guys like to do in your free time for fun?
We are all into different things- I am very into reading and searching for new music I’ve never heard before. I love just broadening my music knowledge. I’m known to take up a game of tennis as well! Santa is always sketching and painting, and Sam at this moment is very into making playlists.
Who are you most excited to see at Lollapalooza this year?
Chance the Rapper, Arcade Fire, and many more.
Where do you go from here, what’s next for Lo Moon? What are some of your short and long-term goals?
We are excited to release some new music out in the world. And of course we love to play live, so we will continue to tour. Short term we just want to keep developing as a live band and building our fan base day by day, fan by fan. Long term goal for this band is to play stadiums one day. I’ve never shied away from saying that, and I hope I never will. ?◻️
Lo Moon appears at Lollapalooza on Sunday, August 6th at 1:50pm on the Pepsi stage.