Peggy Chats With: moa moa

Your weekly go-to new music guide brought to you by our London music journo, Peggy as she uncovers the latest ‘bands and artists to watch’ in the post-punk, new wave, jazz and indie communities. This week she discusses cinematic animation, lockdown experiences and the beauty of the radio with psychedelic alt-pop group, moa moa, and collaborating animator, Tom Sharp.

@peggyfromearth 

Hailing from South London, how did you come about the birth of moa moa? 

moa moa: We moved in together in March of 2019, and we've all been in different projects together over the years. James (who is our creative force and produces all of our music), was sitting on a few tunes in varying degrees of completion, and so we just decided to jam them one day. From there moa was born.

The likes of CLASH, DIY and 6music have all offered praise for your distinctive blend of psychedelic alt-pop. How did you begin developing and consequently honing your style?  moa moa: There's a very deliberate and conscious effort to create stuff which is challenging, but that also has an inherent sense of accessibility to it. Through that, and James' weird and wonderful approach to ideation, we've found something that we're all happy with. With all the singles we have planned going forward, there's a very distinct identity to everything, which ties it all together. 

What were the ideas and thought processes which came to form the basis of your debut single ‘Yellow Jacket’ (released via Council Records)? 

moa moa: We've talked a bit about some of the influences for Yellow Jacket before, such as Tame Impala and UMO, but the song itself narrates a slightly childish conversation between two people in a relationship. It's deliberately very matter-of-fact, e.g. 'is he taller than me?', with that simplicity offset by more 'chonky' riffs. It was a tune that we thought was great when James first showed us the initial run of it… It has an immediacy to it that meant we felt it had to be our first single.

One of the most productive groups we’ve seen in lockdown, we’re exceedingly excited for your five-part animation series, ‘Please, slow me down’, created in collaboration with animator Tom Sharp. What first gave you the urge to release this type of material? 

moa moa: Thanks for the kind words on the series! Lockdown is a challenging time for all artists. It's forced everyone to think about they can develop their story in creative ways,