Based in Los Angeles, Lo Moon are currently supporting London Grammar on their UK tour and are comprised of Matt Lowell, Crisanta Baker, and Sam Stewart. Seemingly appearing out of nowhere last year, with the release of single ‘Loveless’ in September 2016, a seven-minute single of bedroom-eyes electronic ambiance, their latest single ‘Thorns’ was released this month and their album can be expected in early 2018. The Student sat down with Matt Lowell from the band to discuss their music and UK tour:
How did you guys initially meet and how has this helped to shape your music?
We live in L.A but I’m from New York, Sam’s from London originally and Crisanta’s from Denver, so we’re all from pretty different backgrounds. I met Crisanta and we formed a little band called Stranger, then we met Sam and over the next year and a half it started to morph itself into Lo Moon. Once we got together it all just clicked and we found our roles pretty quickly.
What’s the dynamic between the three of you in the band? Does one of you take on the responsibility of songwriting, or is it a much more collaborative process?
It’s a beautiful collaboration of music which is growing every day. There are a lot of songs on this record that I either brought to the band fully formed or as a seed – a verse or a chorus – but we worked it out together as a band. It’s a beautiful thing to have something like the three of us do, together. I’m very collaborative in everything I do, the more people around me, the more energy I feel. Sitting in a room by yourself trying to write a song is just so boring!
What was your reasoning behind releasing material last year (‘Loveless’) and then going silent for so long?
It was just to let the song live for a while, really. We were in a weird position because ‘Loveless’ got attention which we weren’t expecting at all. We felt that it was a song that could grow over time and we wanted to give it the space and time to do that, instead of rushing material out just for the sake of making music.
Do you think that there is a pressure for bands to overshare these days? Is it necessarily a positive things that we can be so immediately connected to our favourite artists?
On one side it’s really beautiful that you can immediately share what you’ve made and people can hear it, but I also feel that there are a lot of people who don’t take the time to get it right. So, they finish something and put it out straightaway, when they haven’t lived with it for long enough to actually know if they’re going to like it themselves in six months. We’ve lived with these recordings and because of that, they’ve got their own life and the music itself is a reflection on the past year. You can remember when you did things on the recordings that were real moments. Just because a song is finished doesn’t mean you have to release it straightaway. Whether it comes out today or tomorrow, music is always going to live forever.
Apart from London Grammar, are there any other UK bands that you align yourselves with at the moment?
The xx seem to be a band that we always get compared to but I think we’ve got a much bigger, grander sound. Their greatest aspect is their minimalism. We also get a lot of references to older bands too, like Talk Talk and a Scottish band called The Blue Nile, who I’m obsessed with.
Is there a particular type of venue that your music lends itself to? Usher Hall is a large venue – do you find it more enjoyable playing in more intimate rooms?
Theatres like this one have been incredible for us – Usher Hall is absolutely gorgeous. You can create so much atmosphere. The stale clubs don’t feel as good for us to play, we love the grandeur of venues like this one
What can we expect to come in future months from Lo Moon?
We’re releasing new music and we’ll be looking to release the album in the first part of next year. Then I think we’ll just be supporting the album and touring as much as we can until we can’t take it anymore!
Image: Warren Higgins, Chuff Media