Moon Hound Talks Their New EP

By Sean Maldjian, Contributor

Photo by, Sara Laufer

Meet Moon Hound

A self-portrait by, Moon Hound

Would you rather…

only be able to buy things with coins or by trading random objects? Please explain.

Trading random items. I get sentimental about a lot of things that I have and I feel like it would take the edge off getting rid of them if I was getting something I wanted/needed in return. 

Some questions with Moon Hound

Hey there, it’s been a while. How have you been?

It’s definitely been a lot of ups and downs over the last few years, but this summer is proving to be somewhat restorative and the creative energy pulsing through the city is inspiring me in new ways.

What is your favorite park in New York City?

Central Park has a special place in my heart. I went to school not too far from it and some of my family lived near there for a time so I’ve spent a lot of time being joyful/crestfallen/peaceful/morose all over that park.

Your EP ‘Wait For Nothing’ Was recently released. Can you tell us a little more about the creative inspiration behind it?

A few songs on this EP were meant to be a part of our precious EP “Crescent”, but as time went on it became clear that they fit more with newer songs that I was writing. I had also started to get back into folk music at the end of 2017/beginning of 2018 and that fueled a lot of the writing. During the first year or so of the pandemic there was a lot of time to sit alone in a more quiet environment and that also led to a lot of the instrumentation and arrangement choices. All the drum parts were the last things we recorded, if that offers some clarity on the process.

The songs on your latest EP have a less structured and more abstracted quality than your previous releases. How did you land on this style?

I have a background in classical contemporary composition and it became a lot easier to tap into that part of myself while working on these songs. Acoustic music for me offers so much space because it's just my voice and an acoustic guitar when the song is written. There's less thinking about how the song will fit in a band setting, so arrangements can be reverse engineered in a sense. I also spent a lot of time watching videos and listening to podcasts on how other people created their arrangements, and there was definitely some inspiration drawn from there. This essentially helped me say “this recording won't be exactly replicated live and that is OK”.

Where is your favorite venue in NYC to see a show?

It definitely varies year to year, but the best shows I’ve seen in the last year were at Webster Hall. Definitely wouldn't have said that a few years ago but the vibe of the crowd has changed and they’ve had some awesome artists come through! If we’re talkin smaller venues, TV Eye.

What was the timeline on writing your latest EP? What was going on in your life while it was being recorded?

The first song was written early 2018 (Justinian) and the last song was finished in late 2020 (Rye Moon). We started recording in mid 2019 and finished up at the end of 2021. There was a lot of re-recording of the lead vocals and also a lot of experimentation. During that time I was also completing my Masters in Music Composition as well as barista-ing. I also produced a couple bands EPs and started playing in an Irish folk band!

Can you cross your eyes?

You bet!

Your latest EP taps into some serious atmosphere and scale. Where would be your ideal location to perform a set of the EP?

Ideal location would either be in a clearing in the woods upstate somewhere or in a rural barn with high rafters.

What is the next milestone you hope to hit in your career?

At the end of August we’re heading up to Elizaville, NY to record a 10 song LP, so the next milestone is releasing a full length album completed over a short period of time (the last two EPs took at least 2 years each to finish recording). In a more dreamy way, I’d love to play a bigger venue opening for a band I love. 

Any final comments? (This is your electronic soapbox for one last answer.)

We had two awesome guests on the album. Sarah Esocoff sang and offered some very cool vocal arrangement choices, and Sammy Mellman played trombone, trumpet, and clarinet. They're both awesome people and have musical projects of their own! Sarah's music isn't out (yet) but you can check out Sammy Mellman all over the place!