Moontype, Cause & Control, Boxing Day

×

Expand

Emerson Hunton

The four members of Moontype.

Moontype

Chicago rock band Moontype is back with a new four-piece lineup and their sophomore album, I Let the Wind Push Down on Me, released May 23. The singles released ahead of the album prove the range of the new lineup, from the abrupt musical shifts of “Starry Eyed” to the pensive tension of album opener “How I Used to Dance” (as the Chicago Reader puts it, “they dare you to squeeze them into a box”). With emo-friendly Madisonians Boxing Day (who also just released a new album, PUNCH!) and powerful trio Cause & Control.

media release: Moontype will release their sophomore LP I Let The Wind Push Down On Me, on May 23. The long-awaited follow up to their acclaimed 2021 debut Bodies of Water, the album will be released on Owen Ashworth's Orindal Records. 

A brand new Chicago band on a small independent label (Born Yesterday), the band's debut made an outsized impact, capturing the attention of outlets like The New York Times, NPR, Stereogum and Pitchfork on the strength of the clear-eyed songwriting of the band's singer/bassist Margaret McCarthy, and the band's gauzy, math-y and full-hearted indie rock. 

It's follow up, which was produced by Katie Von Schleicher and Nate Mendelsohn, the album arrives ahead of a recently announced tour with Frankie Cosmos and fantasy of a broken heart, and has been preceded by three singles, "Long Country," "Four Hands ii," and "How I Used To Dance." Today, the band are sharing a final preview of the album, a track called "Starry Eyed."

Following the 2021 release of Bodies of Water, Moontype’s critically acclaimed first album, the band underwent a recharging period of major and minor transformations. “I have gotten better at being alone, and found ways to feel strong and powerful in myself,” says McCarthy. “I'm better at having the relationships I want to have and setting the boundaries I want to set. For this record, I didn't shy away from dark or hard things, like loneliness, sadness, anger, and disconnection.” During that time, the band’s lineup grew with the additions of Patter’s Joe Suihkonen, whose other band the Deals has featured collaborations from McCarthy and Moontype drummer Emerson Hunton, and Andrew Clinkman of Spirits Having Fun. “Getting asked to join this band was a beautiful thing for me,” says Clinkman. “It was exciting to be able to play with what was my favorite band already.”

I Let the Wind Push Down On Me is an album of confronting dark emotions and coming out stronger. Where their debut Bodies of Water concerned itself with the healing powers of nature, this LP creates a colder world. On “Starry-Eyed,” McCarthy sings, “Borrowing a bottle I take sips / till I forget / What I started for / Oh / Why do I keep opening that door? / Every time I think it’s closed, there’s more.” While the song with its shoegaze-inflected riffs captures how things can feel heavy on your chest, it’s sung with such a lightness that it feels like a relief. “For that song, I took myself on a writing retreat, sat there, and wrote for a week, and that song actually came out of that.”

McCarthy says of the track:

This song is about coming to terms with how much I relied on alcohol to regulate my emotions. Pick your poison, however you want to escape. It’s a habit that’s hard to break, a door that keeps opening.

Took some time for us to figure this one out. We tried a bunch of different speeds and vibes out, but slow and wavy felt right in the end.