Tag: Newmoon Space

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Antwerp’s Newmoon Shares Shimmering And Atmospheric “Fading Phase”

With the release of 2014’s Invitation to Hold EP, 2016’s Space and 2019’s Nothing Hurts Forever, Antwerp-based shoegazer outfit Newmoon have established a sound and approach that meshes elements of shoegaze, post-punk and alternative rock with dreamy melodies and atmospheric soundscapes paired with emotive lyrics.

The Belgian shoegazer outfit’s third album Temporary Light is slated for a March 22, 2024 release through PIAS Recordings across the European Union and Manifesto Entertainment, a new imprint of Quiet Panic, across the US. Temporary Light reportedly marks the next step in the band’s musical evolution, showcasing their growth as a band and musicians — and their dedication to creating transformative music. Sonically speaking, the album sees the Belgian outfit returning to their roots to embrace an abrasive yet ethereal sound — but with a fresh approach. The band’s new drummer Conor Dawson enriches the band’s signature penchant for grand yet delicate melodies with rhythmic finesse, adding a layer of depth and musicality to the album’s material.

“Thick layers of guitars always felt natural to us, and are kind of our main thing. We wanted to explore some ideas that have been in the back of our mind ever since we started this band,” Newmoon’s Bert Cannaerts explains. “As soon as we let go of trying to write a specific type of album, the songs grew organically and everything just clicked.”

Temporary Light‘s first single is the slow-burning and brooding “Fading Phase.” Built around thunderous drumming and swirling layers of shimmering and painterly guitar textures around the verses, a stormy and towering feedback and reverb-drenched solo paired with dreamily plaintive vocals, “Fading Phase” channels Souvlaki-era Slowdive and A Storm in Heaven-era The Verve and feels as comforting as pulling a warm blanket over you on a chilly night.

“While writing this album Bert got a new guitar. It was an older Rickebacker from the 90’s with loads of wear and tear on it already,” the band says of the new single. “Definitely a guitar that had been loved by an older guitar player before he got it. The main riff of “Fading Phase” was the first thing he wrote on that guitar and after that the whole song just kind of wrote itself. Definitely one of those moments where everything just falls into place.”

The accompanying video follows the members of the Belgian shoegazer outfit getting together for a night out in Antwerp, bar and club hopping, then stop at a house party before heading home, bleary eyed.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of Bert Cannaerts (vocals/guitar), Giel Torfs (guitar/backing vocals), Philippe Corthout (guitar), Robby Geybels (bass) and Stef Gouwkens (drums), Newmoon are an Antwerp and Ghent, Belgium-based indie rock quintet derive their name from an Elliot Smith album, and although they formed in 2013, they can trace their origins to the breakup of locally renowned hardcore punk band Midnight Souls. Certainly, for anyone who may have been familiar with their previous project, Newmoon may superficially appear to be sonic change in direction, a proverbial left turn — despite the fact that reportedly, the band’s influences have almost always been the same: The Jesus and Mary Chain, Slowdive, Ramones, Oasis, and Sunn o))).

Their debut EP was released Touché Amoré’s label Secret Voice/Deathwish Inc. and the reconvened and rebranded quintet quickly built up a profile across the European Union as they’ve toured with the likes of Touché Amoré, Basement, Nothing and Cloakroom, and others. Building upon the buzz they’ve received, the band will be releasing their anticipated full-length debut as Newmoon, Space in October through PIAS Records. And the album’s first single “Head of Stone,” which was written while the band was on a bullet train between Tokyo and Kyoto and is primarily about the feeling of being lost and alone when you confront an impenetrable language barrier — the sort in which you don’t speak or understand a word of that country’s language and the people around you don’t speak your language. As the band’s Bert Cannaerts explains in press notes, “I realised that there’s something very frightening about being in a place where you are unable to connect to people in any way. You cannot understand the language they are speaking; you can’t understand any visual cues. This can make you feel isolated and invisible. The same thing can happen with emotional relationships. They get to a point where people become unable to communicate, and emotions and nuances are lost. This leads to isolation and resentment and people go their separate ways.”

As for the song you’ll hear propulsive, four-on-the-floor drumming, layers upon layers of gently buzzing power chords and anthemic hooks with ethereal vocals bubbling over an enveloping and dreamy sound and to my ears, I’m reminded of My Vitriol‘s Finelines, A Storm in Heaven and A Northern Soul-era The Verve and others — but with a subtly expansive song structure as the song possesses an explosive introduction,  the previously mentioned anthemic hook and a towering bridge with a mind-altering guitar solo.