Los Angeles-based post-punk trio Moaning are striving for more than just selling a record. On their forthcoming sophomore full-length, titled Uneasy Laughter, vocalist/guitarist Sean Solomon says he did a lot of reading on the tour van, studying up on gender and mental health issues. "I don’t want to be the person who influences young people to go get high and become cliche tragic artists,” he said via a press release. “What I’d rather convey to people is that they’re not alone in what they think and how they feel.” He explained that today's featured Song of the Day is about those themes, “letting go of your bullshit so you can help other people and be present.”
“The lyrics are about letting go of your own bullshit to help other people. Wanting to love yourself to love others. The ego can make you feel like you’re the greatest person in the world or the worst.” Solomon elaborated. “It makes you think your problems are abnormally different which is isolating and rarely true. The song is a reminder that listening to other perspectives is important and beneficial to both parties involved.”
“Musically, the song was started by repurposing a drum beat made for a different demo and putting it on top of a new synth loop. It was a digital collage where we passed Ableton files back and forth,” added bassist/keyboardist Pascal Stevenson. “We purposely avoided the impulse to add guitars to everything, letting the melodies of the synth and vocals be the focus. We wanted to embrace the songs ability to slip between genre lines.”
“We want to be part of a community,” Solomon continued. “I wrote online about being sober for a year, and I had kids from all over writing and asking for advice. One of them said, ‘For the first time I can remember, I didn’t drink last night.’ I thought, for once, maybe we did something besides sell a record. That’s a win. That’s incredibly exciting.”
Moaning play Seattle on Thursday, April 9th at Chop Suey with Black Marble, with Uneasy Laughter hitting stores on March 20th via Sub Pop. Check out the video for today's featured track below, directed by Ambar Navarro.
