Photo by Taylor Spence and Chris Eichenseer
Experimental metal/electronic duo MOIII today unveils their video for “You Won’t Be Alive To Feel It.” Now playing at New Noise Magazine’s web portal, the track comes off the band’s eponymous debut set for release on August 2nd via the newly resurrected Someoddpilot Records.
MOIII is a study of opposing forces. Born sometime in 2018, and parented by Chicagoan Scott Shellhamer and Austinite Jason Butler, “dark-light, pink-black, soft-hard, sunny-stormy” are all descriptors that would apply to their self-titled offering.
Shellhamer (most noted for his work in American Heritage and Ghosts And Vodka) and Butler (under his Thee Conductor moniker includes Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Glenn Kotche) come from opposite musical worlds but have somehow created an inspired body of work complimenting each other’s strengths in their respective writing approaches. They recruited Thor Harris (Swans) and [sound designer, mixer, and audio engineer] Surachai in the studio to round out the impressive soundscape.
Inspired by Swans, Caspar Brötzmann, and Einstürzende Neubauten, this is a record that’s difficult to classify. Ultimately, it’s heavy and dark, manipulated by an industrial hand, complemented by kids making music with toys. It’s free and independent-minded, tough and gritty, loud and delicate. Truly an original sound, and a completely original record. Enough to resurrect the long-mothballed Someoddpilot Records for a worldwide digital and limited 12” vinyl release.
Through intuitive experimentation they’ve organically found something new, snapping disparate ideas into place like an old puzzle you’ve never seen before, but one you instantly recognize. That is the feeling of what the best new music does. It’s like art sprung from the void between musical categories. Nasty guitar soundscapes juxtaposed with light finger picking mixed with dark-ambient electronics shape this album into a catchy and dirty sailboat ride into a storm of uplifting particulates.
Comments director/cinematographer Chris Eichenseer on the “You Won’t Be Alive To Feel It” video, “The video started with the title. We wondered, ‘What won’t we be alive to feel?’ Maybe all of those things we feel now – the good, the bad, the strange. The preoccupations. Like the insects who will get to work on our remains, we kind of look just like them — scrambling, scurrying, shuffling things around. Preoccupied with our own little hole in the ground, filled with our own brand of madness. We don’t really know. We shot what felt good.”
Read more and watch MOIII’s “You Won’t Be Alive To Feel It” video at New Noise HERE.
Moiii was recorded at Gimme A Second Studios, engineered by Scott Shellhamer with drums recorded at King Electric Studios. The record was engineered by Justin Douglas, mixed by Andrew Hernandez at Arroyo Audio, mastered by Jeff Wojtysiak at Spiral Sound Mastering, and features artwork by Antonio Bond.
Moiii will be released on digital and vinyl formats. Find preorders at the official MOIII Bandcamp page HERE where first single, “Turtle Legs,” can be streamed.
MOIII:
Jason Butler – guitar, drums, sounds
Scott Shellhamer – guitar, bass, synth, sounds
Guests:
Thor Harris – drums, percussion
Surachai – modular synth
https://www.instagram.com/moiiiband/
https://www.facebook.com/moiiiband
https://moiii.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/someoddpilotrecords
https://someoddpilotrecords.bandcamp.com