Moaning, “Moaning”
Available: Friday, March 2, via Sub Pop Records, as a digital download on various high quality formats (MP3, FLAC and more), on cassette tape, on compact disc, and on vinyl. If ordering direct from the label, receive the record on limited Loser Edition pink-colored vinyl, while supplies last.
Back in mid-December, I submitted a list of records I was most anticipating the release of in 2018. All on that list (Shame, Ought, U.S. Girls) have since been released, and all but one have lived up to my expectation. The one that hasn’t, I’ve had no time to dig into and then there is Moaning, with the final offering this Friday. It was no easy task choosing a single record this week (fist thankfully shaking skyward) with full lengths from Lucy Dacus, Titus Andronicus, SUUNS, The Men, and The Breeders (!) among many more getting wide release. This is one hell of a week to visit your local, independent record store to spend some of that gruelingly earned first paycheck in March. Please do so.
While the aforementioned artists’ albums will no doubt get their due spins in our household, only post-punk revivalist trio Moaning is a debut. The unknown of a first record is intriguing, exciting even. The singles that preceded the album release, especially the ripping opener “Don’t Go”, set the tone of jagged guitars filtered through a melodic haze of shoegaze’s (ugh) finest. The trio of Sean Solomon (guitar, vocals), Pascal Stevenson (bass, synths), and Andrew MacKelvie (drums) have taken Solomon’s initial song sketches to full fruition, fleshing them into lean, suave, and propulsive rockers. After solid spins since receiving the record, my only complaint is customary: with a running time of 33 minutes 40 seconds, I wish it was twice as long. Catch them on tour this spring with label mates METZ, and early summer alongside Preoccupations. Both tours would be stellar, though the latter made my favorite record of 2016, and the paring of the two onstage is damn fitting.
Recommended for fans of DIIV, No Age, Preoccupations, A Place to Bury Strangers, and the overarching influence of genre predecessors such as Joy Division, Wire, Gang of Four or Public Image Limited.
Jon E. Lynch[email protected]
