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<\/p>\nThe Moon and You began work on its newest album almost exactly four years ago. And initially, work on the album proceeded really quickly. \u201cWe got the rhythm tracking done in two days,\u201d recalls cellist\/vocalist Melissa Hyman. \u201cThe day before and the days after the 2016 [presidential] election,\u201d adds Ryan Furstenburg, guitarist\/vocalist and Melissa’s husband.<\/p>\n
But then a succession of other activities took precedence, and work stopped. The Moon and You had a busy schedule of live dates locally, regionally, around the nation and overseas. So even though drums, bass and rhythm guitar parts were complete, the album remained unfinished. \u201cAnd it just remained in that state for awhile,\u201d says Hyman. \u201cIt was definitely a combination of our travel schedule and trying to [find] the funds to have more sessions.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s not as if The Moon and You weren\u2019t recording. The duo released the full-length Endless Maria<\/i> (\u201crecorded in ten consecutive days,\u201d Hyman says) in 2017. And then \u2013 with a collection of musical pals \u2013 they recorded and released 2019\u2019s Big Mystery<\/i>, an album of children\u2019s lullabies credited to The Moon and You and Friends. So the uncompleted Asteroids<\/i> project was again set aside. \u201cWe got a commission to do Big Mystery<\/i> right in the middle of the process,\u201d Furstenburg says. \u201cIt\u2019s been so long,\u201d Hyman adds with a laugh, \u201cthat honestly I\u2019m struggling to remember what some of the holdups were!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAsteroids<\/i> was still hanging out there, unfinished,\u201d Furstenburg says. \u201cBut we always planned on [finishing and] releasing it,\u201d adds Hyman, completing her husband\u2019s sentence. Eventually they did finish, and the resulting work is a concept album.<\/p>\n
\u201cMelissa loves<\/i> to have a concept,\u201d Furstenburg says, teasing his wife. So Asteroids<\/i> is a song cycle, with the pieces linked together through audio snippets of friends and fellow musicians who came into their orbit. \u201cWe recorded people in Belgium, a friend from France, a friend from Savannah,\u201d Furstenburg says. \u201cPeople we met on the road.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stylewise, Asteroids<\/i> could serve as a sampler of the many musical moods of The Moon and You. The title track\u2019s outro sounds like a Pet Sounds<\/i> outtake; \u201cCounty Lines\u201d has the feel of classic-era AM radio country. \u201cRat King\u201d sounds like prewar hot jazz. Hyman says that variety isn\u2019t exactly intentional. \u201cWe tend to write in a fairly eclectic way,\u201d she says. \u201cWe create the instrumentation and arrangement of each track to serve the song. And that\u2019s more important to us than making an album that sounds similar from track to track.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yet Asteroids<\/i> hangs together as a whole. That\u2019s in keeping with the idea of connectedness, a theme that runs through all of the songs. And \u2013 intentionally or not \u2013 that makes the long-delayed appearance of the album now, during a pandemic, especially timely. \u201cReleasing it is a way to connect with people in a way that\u2019s been lacking,\u201d Furstenburg says. \u201cIt does have a quality of being almost like a photo album,\u201d Hyman suggests. \u201cFriends that we met, and adventures that we recall fondly \u2026 that I wish we could be doing right now.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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