Quebec’s The Moonlight Club are gearing up to release their new EP, Emerald this fall. The EP was produced by Peter Van Utyfanck from Tous Les Jours / Penny Lane Studios in Montreal.
In advance of the new album, the band has decided to release a series of singles, the first of which is entitled “Mystery Man”.
Check out the video below, and find out more about Moonlight Club via our Five Questions With segment.
Care to introduce yourself to our readers?
We are three guys from Trois-Rivières, Quebec, and a guy from Sarnia, Ontario who found themselves living in Montreal and gradually playing and recording music together over the past ten years.
None of us were trained musicians but we found each other through friends and events in Montréal. We share this passion for creating and recording new music with no rules, no manager, no ‘right way’ of doing. We like to think that the ‘Club’ means something. We invite a lot of friends to collaborate with us. Whether it’s for artwork, videos, music production, or shows.
Tell us a bit about your music and writing style.
It’s also hard to choose a category in a dropdown menu! There’s no manager telling us we should produce a ‘bedroom indie’ single that’s 3m long and features this effect.
What you hear is just our journey trying to recreate the magic of our favorite records we grew up with. We like to say we’re ‘lost between the ’60s and the ’80s.
In the writing, you’ll hear a lot of Americana and Folk influences. We tell stories that are not stuck in time. We reflect on things but it’s generally optimistic. In the music itself, you’ll hear some new wave grooves and jangly guitars from the ’80s.
We always start with a strong song–it’s usually words and music on a sheet of paper. We build it from there together, trying to give the song the best rendition with our musical capabilities. Sometimes, it’ll end up as a pastiche 80’s song like our first single ‘Mysterious Man’. Sometimes it’ll end up in an epic acoustic ballad like ‘Under The Trees’ that you’ll hear soon. And sometimes it’ll be a banging rocker. We care about the song. We never want to get tired of playing it.
Do you have any upcoming shows? For someone who has yet to see you live, how would you explain your live performance?
We are still waiting to hear about when we’ll be able to play shows in venues again, but we have some live sessions planned for the summer and hopefully a few other surprises.
We genuinely have a great time playing together and I think that translates well to our live shows and allows for a pretty personal connection to whoever is watching. It’s honest, straightforward, and sounds very much like what you’ll hear on our records.
If you were asked to suggest only one of your songs for someone to hear, which would it be?
Aside from our new single ‘Mysterious Man’, I (Dan) was introduced to the band via A Little Too Easy. I was hooked and instantly wanted to be part of the project. The song is a perfect image of what the band is. The lyrics are quite profound but you can interpret them the way you want. It features an upbeat groove and chorus-y guitars and keys. You also hear both John & Frank singing together–which is a classic for us.
Canadian Beats is all about Canadian music, so who are your current favourite Canadian bands/ artists?
Everything that Luke Lalonde and the boys from the Born Ruffians have done lately puts me instantly in a good place. The piano and songwriting on Tim Baker’s latest stuff has been sticking with me as well.
We have a soft spot for Montreal bands that inspired us to get together, write, and record music. We have to note Elephant Stone as a major motivator in our story. We also LOVE Leif Vollebekk because he recorded right before us in 2018 and we felt the studio was still vibing from these sessions!
Is Neil Young current? Oh sorry. That’s what we mean by ‘lost in the 60’s’. Cheers!