New Moscow Club: “Celine”
Mannnn, how long have I been waiting to write that headline again?
Moscow Club were one of the best indie-pop bands going in Japan from 2011 to, like, 2013. They were all over the place in the best way possible — they had fuzzy twee guitar numbers aplenty, but also synth jams devoted to Ray Bradbury and dance tracks and so much else. They are one of my favorite Japanese bands I’ve had the chance to cover here on the blog (they were the first MAP entry I ever made, and I took part in the video for their Kickstarter-like campaign to finance their first album, which I can’t find, thankfully). And then…they sort of vanished in 2013, a once prolific band not sharing any new songs online or playing any shows in Tokyo. So it goes in the capital’s indie music scene.
Well turns out Moscow Club spent two years working on a new album, called Outfit Of The Day, due out at the end of the month via Fastcut Records. And here’s the single from it, “Celine,” featuring vocal contributions from Amanda Åkerman of Swedish outfit Alpaca Sports. And oh, I’m so glad this exists! “Celine” bridges the group’s guitar-centered origins with the electronic sound they explored in the run up to their first album a few years back, but with the drama still intact. It’s a tender number, every keyboard strike and guitar note ready to fall apart, but everything hanging together just right. Listen above.