She’s Lost Control

New Single: Listen here.

Our cover of Joy Division’s “She’s Lost Control” has been released as a single. This is one I originally covered long ago, in 2003, ostensibly as a b-side to “Forever.” That version was much like this one, though it featured some pretty heavily distorted vocals and a more dense mix. Because I did not have the legal means at the time to release it commercially, it was briefly given away as a free download from the site.

This version is heavily remixed and with a new vocal, and is now home among the handful of covers we’ve been releasing alongside new original tracks. It’s been in the band’s catalog so long, it feels like one of our essential tracks, yet strangely very few people who follow us have heard it. It’s nice to finally have the means to let it be heard more broadly, seeing it appropriately completed and officially released some 16 years later.

As with all of our cover singles, the proceeds from this single will be given to charity, this time to RAINN, who are “the nation’s largest anti-sexual violence organization. RAINN created and operates the National Sexual Assault Hotline (800.656.HOPE, online.rainn.org y rainn.org/es) in partnership with more than 1,000 local sexual assault service providers across the country and operates the DoD Safe Helpline for the Department of Defense. RAINN also carries out programs to prevent sexual violence, help survivors, and ensure that perpetrators are brought to justice.”

For additional assistance, please also check out helpingsurvivors.org, who provide resources and help for those that need it.

6/07/2019 Update

The “Metropolitan” verses are finished. Took a stab at the bridge and it didn’t quite satisfy. Needs a more careful approach. Skipped the chorus initially but circled back to it. I have been trying to include more traditional, vocal choruses as of late and this one has one of those. Again, the lyrics, melody, and phrasing are all there. I just need to dial in the amount of pepper. “Metropolitan” is a more delicate song than I have done in the past and the vocals require the energy level to be just-so. Finding that sweet spot, especially as it shifts through the song, has been the particular challenge of this one. More next week.

6/06/2019 UPDATE

There will be more updates until completion of the current project. I need some kind of accountability and perhaps chronicling my progress going forward will help to maintain some forward-moving inertia.

I’m recording vocals now. Today’s effort was on a song tentatively titled, “Metropolitan.” The lyrics, the melody, and the phrasing are all there, but as it is a more subdued song, I’m having trouble finding the right inflection for it.

While I’m quite a bit more capable as a singer than I was when I first started, I do have some decidedly fixed habits when it comes to my style of singing. I have pushed outside of my normal habits for music and arrangement recently, but I am still trying to find my way to a different styles of vocals that still feels like me. I’m broadening my palette in that regard, though, and the progress is slow at present.

4/23/2019 Update

So now that the new site is launched (hello, welcome back), I’m going to try to go back to the old style of update, wherein I post more regularly and with a bit more detail than simply acknowledging that something new has come out. I mean, as it stands, the news page and the discography page look rather confusingly similar. The only remedy for that is more content, and so here we are.

Generally, since mrmoth activities were suspended in 2005, I’ve tried to not do too much previewing of what’s coming and do more of the “surprise” approach to announcing work. It seems to be my curse that every time I announce an upcoming release, the universe sees fit to interfere and the thing never comes out. And while I am interested in letting it be known that I am working on things – a lot of things – it is too early to give away the specifics.

Just know that the ongoing singles I’ve been releasing in a one-or-two-per-year rate have been adding up to something(s) and that the final form(s) of it/they is/are probably coming sooner than the span between the last couple singles. I’m working toward that anyway.

I realize that’s ultimately a rather obvious story math problem to work out, but speaking in generalities is about my only safe bet if I mean to dodge the afore-mentioned curse. My hope is that I will be able to announce completions, or at least journal my activities toward those completions here as the next thing(s), whatever it/they is/are, take(s) form.

But don’t quote me on that.

Fight

It would be pretty impossible to adequately describe the influence The Cure has had on me. It seems so obvious. As a teenager, some of my most fraught emotional moments were soundtracked by the band. In moments of desperate emotional turmoil (as adolescent years are often rife with), the music saw me through and stabilized me. However alone or marginalized or disconnected I felt, they were there. So today, 30+ years later, they are being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. In honor of the occasion, I am releasing our cover of “Fight.”

As is my custom when releasing a cover, I will donate any proceeds generated by the song, this time to The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline – 1-800-273-TALK (8255). The song is not a call for violence, but rather a call to maintain your spirit when it feels like all the world is against you. To fight back against the pressure to succumb. As a kid, this song served that function to me, so I am singing it for others.

On this track, bass is provided by my longtime collaborator Bryan Leighty. Cover photography by Areej Adel. Both are dear friends.

Gone Down

New single, “Gone Down” is now available on all services and online stores. For best sound quality, I recommend Bandcamp.

Call On Your Stars

New single, “Call on Your Stars” is now available on all services and online stores. For best sound quality, I recommend Bandcamp.

Under the God

“That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons of history.” -Aldous Huxley

Though it is hardly a unique sentiment, those who know me personally, know what a profound influence David Bowie was on me. I have spent the last year trying to determine the best way to pay tribute to the artist. There are certainly songs I love more than “Under the God” but few that feel more bleedingly relevant in the current political climate. I am confident this isn’t the last time I will cover him, but it is the song I am releasing on his birthday today.

This song will be released EVERYWHERE (except Bandcamp – long story) this week. You’ll be able to listen on streaming services. You’ll be able to purchase it, stream it, shuffle it. All the stuff. Once it is widely available, the Soundcloud link will be deleted. But it’s his birthday so the song is here to be heard. All proceeds from all methods of purchase, etc will go to The Southern Poverty Law Center.

To be noted: the first musician I ever collaborated with on mrmoth was Bryan Leighty. We shared a common love of Bowie, and curiously enough, we both really love the Tin Machine album (which isn’t that common among Bowie fans). Bryan plays bass on this song and indeed, in recording it, the thing didn’t really come together until I got Bryan’s part on it.

The cover art is by Areej Adel. She’s a brilliant Saudi artist and my friend.