moonweather and 5 Albums that are near and dear to the band (‘Overgrown’ LP, is out now)
moonweather – ‘Overgrown’ is available @ iTunes.
by Mike, Colin, Billy, and Bobby
It’s funny, in the name of democracy the 4 of us in moonweather decided to all pick an album individually and then select a final fifth album that the whole band agreed upon. But looking at our selections, any and all 5 of these albums are near and dear to every one of us, and I think this cohesion is reflected in our music. moonweather is a project grown out of deep friendships and a love of writing music. We’ve all known each other for next to 10 years, some even longer. It’s inevitable that the music you create with old friends sounds like the relationship that bore it. It’s a little aged, a little personal, but also straight up enjoyable.
Billy: Milk-Eyed Mender by Joanna Newsom
Joanna Newsom’s work on Milk-Eyed Mender is, to me, emotionally striking. To this day, I continue to discover new aspects of the album that keep me in love with it.
Colin: Michigan by Sufjan Stevens
I have a strong visual memory attached to this album. In general, it was the soundtrack of my summer when I was 16 years old. Specifically, I was lying on the grass, it was warm and it was dark, and this was playing on repeat in my Discman. I hadn’t heard music this layered and complex before. And with such a strong foundation in songwriting, too. When I listen to it now, I’m still taken back to that feeling of discovering something for the first time that you know will stick with you for the rest of your life.
Bobby: Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain by Pavement
That record taught me a lot. Like how lyrics can be oblique and meaningful at the same time, and that wrong notes can be right, and that you don’t need to wail to evoke an emotion. Also: “Because there’s 40 different shades of black” — still one of the best lines ever recorded.
Mike: Kid A by Radiohead
Colin actually showed me this album for the first time on a bus ride in high school and I have probably listened to it hundreds of times since then. It is the most influential album for me because it completely changed my perception of how an electric guitar can be used on a record. There is not a lot of noticeable guitar work throughout the album, but rather subtle, highly affected, ambient soundscapes. It made me realize that an electric guitar can add much more to a song when it’s not in the spotlight.
Band pick: The Lonesome Crowded West by Modest Mouse
To be honest, you could probably pick any Modest Mouse album from Good News backward and we’d all agree on its greatness. But TLCW was specifically influential for a few reasons. It showed us that passionate, raw songwriting outweighed technical musical ability. And that an album can be both serious and silly, danceable and thought-provoking, all in one continuous lineup of songs. This album landed on all four of our laps at different points in our musical development, but at the exact right moment to leave a pretty big dent for all of us.
moonweather
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