"Powerful, brilliant new album...Searing new tunes destined for your autumn/winter playlists." -- PopMatters
Cult Australian chamber pop / indie rock band The Moles, led by songwriter/singer/guitarist Richard Davies announce their forthcoming 2xLP Code Word on Super Secret Records. The first single, the chiming power-pop ballad "Moon In The Daytime" premieres today via PopMatters HERE. (Direct Soundcloud.)
When many people think of warped genius (and occasionally lo-fi) indie pop from the 90s, they probably think of Guided By Voices or Neutral Milk Hotel. And for good reason, but too few know of fabled Australian legends The Moles and bandleader Richard Davies.
The Moles' recorded output fits reasonably well alongside the late 80s to early 90s era's explosion of New Zealand "kiwi pop" like The Clean, 3-Ds and Tall Dwarfs that mixed Beatlesesque melodies with threadbare production and whacked-out noise. Davies' brand of indie pop boasts an otherworldly innocence that deftly weds the esoteric cool of the Velvet Underground with a pure pop sensibility that never dribbles into puerile drivel. Later efforts with a new lineup evoke the buttoned-up psychedelic chamber pop of The Zombies. Upon moving to the U.S., Davies paired up with Eric Matthews (Sub Pop) to form Cardinal. Davies went on to release several solo albums into the new millennium before collaborating with Guided By Voices frontman Robert Pollard under the name Cosmos in 2009.
22 years after the band's debut full length, Davies reignited the band with cohorts from Sugar and Sebadoh for a new album, Tonight's Music, in August 2016 (Fire Records). The album is as true to form as ever, filled with delightfully skewed ditties and inventive songwriting unlike any other.
The Moles originally formed in Sydney, Australia, releasing their debut EP in 1990. Following their '92 debut full length Untune The Sky, the band moved to New York, then to London before imploding in '93. A year later, Davies revived the band with a new lineup and issued the considerably more lush album Instinct. However, by 1996 that lineup too fell apart.
This latest album, Code Word, out on Super Secret Records on October 19th, 2018 boasts multiple multi-city Moles lineups on sixteen tracks of intelligent power pop & rollicking rock n roll:
* NYC Moles: Richard Davies, Matt LeMay, Jason Sigal, Pete Hilton, Henry Freedland, Danny Bowman
* Detroit Moles: Richard Davies, Matt Smith, Chris McCinnis, Alexander Glendening, Pete Steffy, Scott Michalski
* Austin Moles: Richard Davies, Steve Patterson, Wil Hendricks, Michael Krassner, Adam Ostrar, Will Courtney
* Mexico City Moles: Richard Davies, Steve Patterson, Wil Hendricks, Michael Krassner, Adam Ostrar, Will Courtney, Rodriguez, Alejandro Romero, Rios, Juan Delacruz
* Easthampton Moles: Richard Davies, Bob Fay, Andy Goulet, Will Courtney
* Somerville Moles (Richard Davies, Dan Rosenthal, Bill Lowe, Mark Zaleski, Russ Gershon, Blake Newman, Luther Gray, Will Courtney
Recording, engineering, mixing, etc., by
Adam Sachs at Trout Recording (Brooklyn NY)
Adam Cox at Marianne's Dinosaurium (Hamtramck MI)
Matt Gerhard at Hen House Recording (Austin TX)
Mario Frias & Juan Sebastian at Panoram Studio (Mexico City, Mexico)
Roger Lavallee at Wachusett Recording Co. (Princeton MA)
Tim Carlin at SSN Studios (Brewster MA)
Russ Gershon (Jamaica Plain MA)
Daniel Rosenthal, Mark Zaleksi, Blake Newman, Joe Stewart at Dimension Sound (Jamaica Plain MA)
Additional mastering by Margaret Luthar at Chicago Mastering Service
All songs written & performed by Robert Davies copyright Sea Air Music/BMI 2018 except Code Word: written by Davies/Gershon, arrangement: Gershon & spoken word on No Overdubs written by Davies, performed by Tim Carlin.
THE MOLES LIVE 2018:
10/18 Austin, TX @ Beerland (album release party)
Artist: The Moles
Album: Code Word
Record Label: Super Secret Records
Release Date: October 19th, 2018
01) Moon in the Daytime
02) Delicate
03) Queen Anne
04) Psych Folk
05) Cheaper to Keep Her
06) Punk on All Four Tracks
07) Riptide
08) No Overdubs
09) What If
10) After May
11) Ancestors
12) Richard Davies 6.0
13) Code Word
14) Prison Girls
15) Betray the Betrayal of the Betrayed
16) Gudbuy T'Jane
On the Web:
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