Album Review: Moonlow – Who Are You (Trepanation Recordings)

I am Dust. This is Moonlow. Who Are You?

Moonlow is a new one-person “apocalyptic noise poetry” project from musician and producer Dust, who has a background in the worlds of extreme metal, post-punk and as a songwriter and composer. 

Who Are You? encourages the listener to enter into a quasi-religious communion with elements of the self. The record was written and recorded very quickly in a stream-of-consciousness haze of illness and fear. The listener is invited to join the twists and nuances of this existential journey by allowing Dust’s musical and verbal outpourings of the soul to cleanse them.

The lyrics – often spoken, whispered, or screamed – interrogate concepts and metaphysical entities including death, fear, pain, God, nature, hope, joy and love. The pieces follow a nine-day period and then leave the door open for what may or may not be coming next. M

Who Are You? will be released on CD, cassette and digital formats via Trepanation Recording on October 16th 2020.

Yes. This is an unusual, a very unusual release. Take a deep breath, find yourself a quiet corner to sit in, stick some headphones on and then jump down the rabbit hole Moonlow has created. It’s deep and you’ll be falling for a very long time. It might be pitch black too but the sounds that come echoing from the consuming darkness are transfixing. Mouth agape, it’s easy to forget that there’s even ground rushing to meet your fall.

Describing the 9-day journey (and one final effort) is very difficult because this isn’t music in the conventional sense. It’s not structured as you might expect it to be, it’s not built on a bedrock of rhythm and it’s not asking for you to head-bang or dance to it.

From static and fuzzy electronica feedback, to horror-laden gothic tones and to mellow highs and lows. All layered with vocals that range from dissonant howls and screams to spoken word and pained whispering. It’s so very strange but oddly addictive.

The goal is to consume your mind, taking you from wherever you are into darkness where the sole question rings out: Who Are You? On that note, it certainly succeeds.

Moonlow – Who Are You? Full Track Listing:

1. Day 1 (You Have No Enemy)
2. Day 2 (Can you Hear
3. Day 3 (You Diminish Me
4. Day 4 (I Am Digressing)
5. Day 5 (Zero)
6. Day 6 (And Then It Stops)
7. Day 7 (The Birds Sing)
8. Day 8 (Still Be)
9. Day 9 (The Sun Did Rise)
10. Next

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