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Introducing: Moon Gangs

• 12th Mar 2014

Ladies and gentlemen of Glasswerk, let me present to you Will Young – as you’ve never heard him before!

OK, OK, it’s not really that Will Young but Moon Gangs is the electronic musical alias of London-based Will Young. His debut EP is set for release on May 5th and the first track from the upcoming record ‘I’ is available to stream now.

As always, when becoming acquainted with a new artist, there is an air of mystery to be expected and Moon Gangs is no exception. ‘I’ opens with slow eerie drones, followed by subtle drum-beats and triumphant arcs of sound. As soon as you think you’re safe, the tempo switches completely, leaving you perplexed, intrigued and eager to hear more.

‘Moon Gangs’ EP was inspired by the likes of John Carpenter and Tangerine Dream soundtracks, plus synth driven Krautrock like Ashra Tempel and Popol Vuh. Contextually it stands somewhere in between modern day electronic outsiders such as The Haxan Cloak and Blanck Mass. With a DIY thesis behind it, Young reigned in the help of his friends to help make the final product. The record was mixed mixed by Matt J of Hookworms / Suburban Studios and Linda Jarvis of Echo Lake designed the artwork for the sleeve and record. All three of the tracks were mastered by East London producer and engineer Rory Attwell whose worthy credits include work for Palma Violets, Big Deal & Veronica Falls amongst many others.

The forthcoming record is made up of three tracks, ‘I’, ‘II’ and ‘III’ that were recorded over a three month period in late 2013. They were edited down from ten hours of improvised synth recordings, which were made entirely using looped Eurorack modular synths, into three intense movements, each just shy of ten minutes long.

Moon Gangs puts on a fascinating live show. With a variety of different set ups, Young sometimes performs solo and sometimes performs with one, two or three drummers. All the shows are performed fully improvised with no computers, samples or backing tracks.

See Moon Gangs live:
13th March – Alibi, LONDON
14th March – Shacklewell Arms, LONDON

In a world, where technology is advancing at a pace faster than most can keep up with, it seems logical that we begin to make music that questions, excites & makes the listener think and it seems Moon Gangs has achieved just that with his debut EP.

Moon Gangs self-titled EP is out on May 5th as a digital download and a limited edition one sided 12″ vinyl. The record sleeve and the blank side of the vinyl have been screen printed onto, for this limited edition release.