Sludge/space/stoner uit Groningen. Vier dudes uit het gure Noorden van Nederland. Leg de puzzelstukjes samen je weet op voorhand dat we hier uiterst stugge en lange, door loodzware riffs en beukend drumwerk gedomineerde songs krijgen. Zo alvast Nothing in Nature. Geen zon voor ons vandaag, maar met zo'n soundtrack hoeft dat ook niet.
Moan (debuutalbum) houdt met de eerste beide nummers de vaart er goed in alvorens het tempo een zware duik neemt. Het afsluitende Desert Island Drugs is een fuzz monstertje van jewelste. Geen idee op welke van de Waddeneilanden ze welk soort drugs kweken, maar ze hebben in ieder geval resultaat opgeleverd.
Moan is op 25 november 2022 verschenen via Audiosport Records.
Lees
MOAN are four dudes from Groningen, Netherlands. Guitarist Marcel and Bassist André have been making music together since forever. Two people in a room, hardly any lights and loads of weed. Sometimes other musicians came in, jammed, and went, not to return. Their music existed purely by means of making it. They hardly performed. Listeners at the door of that room, became long-time fans.
Ear-splitting hammer-like, the darkest of soundscapes. Singers and drummers came and went. “You can come in and join, but we are Moan, deal with it”. How does one deal with Moan? By becoming Moan, not by being overambitious and wanting to change stuff. And stand firm because their black humour is all over the place.
In comes Drummer Reinee. A mammoth and that’s exactly what Moan's sound is like: a mammoth stompin’ about. Enter vocalist, Jurgen. He’s been listening at that door for ages, longing to become their singer. Once, he got a tape, tried to add his vocals, and failed miserably, nothing came up! Back to the door, listen, listen and listen again. How to deal with Moan? Again, by becoming Moan. So fuck the tape, he went in. Moan improvised stuff that sounded like compositions. Almost all the material on their first album came to form during that first improvisation. Moan is a four piece now…….
"This gang of four creates a slow burn beautiful landscape where darkness is king and austerity its master. It is the suffering breath of an injured animal. A long and ripping moan that dwells and keeps dwelling until you are surrounded by its captivating gloom." (Nathalie Katgert, writer for VERA, Club for the International Pop Underground, Groningen)
“We are MOAN. Our sound is massive, we feel it pressing on our chests. It is not doom, far from it. Our sound is sorrowful, not meant to kick your teeth in, but to drench your heart in melancholy and carry you. And yes, we like machinery, loud stomping machinery. We are mud, warm and damp. We are MOAN, our noise is stoner-like, the vocals tend to be melodic, our bass is a sledgehammer, and our drummer is a beast. MOAN is like black tourmaline and selenite: two stones that purify and cleanse…” - MOAN
