Newmoon from Belgium, are a five piece band who released their debut full length album ‘Space‘ via [Pias] Recordings and Mayfly Records (U.S.) on October 14th. Newmoon is emerging as a shoegaze and dream pop band with deep affection in reverb layers and with a hardcore past which is still alive in their sound from time to time. Just like Nothing who shared the same stage this year. Anyhow ‘Space‘ is full of atmospheric and hazy soundscapes enriched by Bert’s dreamy vocals and fine, emotional lyrics. As it is stated on their Bandcamp page “We ‘re real poets man“.
They started out in 2013 as a duo but soon ended up as a quintet, which consists of Bert Cannaerts (vocals/guitar), Giel Torfs (guitar/backing vocals), Philippe Corthout (guitar), Robby Geybels (Bass) and Stef Gouwkens (drums). All of them apart from the bassist are ex-members of the broken up hardcore punk band Midnight Souls. They have been friends since their teens and have shared a common taste in music like The Jesus & the Mary Chain, Slowdive, Ramones and of course their beloved godfather Elliott Smith. The conclusion of the above is that Newmoon is a tight unity with an increased chance to go a long way in the music business.
The band’s name is inspired and taken by the influential acoustic folk musician, Elliott Smith’s posthumous compilation ‘New Moon‘. Their very first release was ‘Invitation To Hold‘ EP via Touché Amoré‘s label Secret Voice in 2014. Newmoon have already followed in European tour Basement, Nothing and Cloakroom and have announced new tour dates within December & January; one as headliners in London at The Garage (Upstairs) (December 8th).
The lead single of ‘Space‘ is ‘Head Of Stone‘ with an official video directed by Hannes M. Meier. A song about being isolated and unable to communicate or to connect in any way with other people. But the highlight song is the album’s opener ‘Helium‘.
For ‘Helium‘ the singer Bert Cannaerts reveals the following: “It’s all about being trapped in a spiral of negativity and being unable to escape it. The feeling that, even though it might be obvious that things are not good for you as a person, it feels so much more comfortable existing in that safety net, rather than going out on a limb to find something better. It was one of the most difficult songs to write for the album. We spent a long time working on the music, and the lyrics are some of the most personal on the record. Writing so openly was something that took me a while to get used to.“
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