In this interview spotlight, I chat with Moon Under Water about the latest album (Between Emergencies) technology, challenges and more.

Full Q&A along with links and music below.

Where are you from and what style of music do you create? (In your own words, not necessarily in marketing terms or by popular genre classifications.)

I am from the UK, an increasingly tragic place. I currently live in Berlin, programming websites and recording myself making noise in the attic room. My stuff can be loosely described as indie rock music. For me, the focus is always melody. Everything else is there to compliment or propel it onward. Also, depth. Layers. Parts hidden, details emerging with each subsequent listen.

I also play guitar with a shoegaze band here in Berlin, called Summer of George, with 3 guys from Spain, Israel and the USA.

What led you down this path of music and what motivates you to keep going?

I have no idea. It’s inescapable really. Besides being with my little family, making music is the one thing I want to spend my time doing. 

Being a totally independent artist is a strange experience. Maybe on some level I just enjoy reading rejection letters.

How is this new release different than previous ones? Were you trying to accomplish anything specific?

I wanted to expand the sonic palette, with more diverse instruments and sounds. But ultimately, I just wanted to create an album of the best songs I could write, and to render them as well as I could. My previous album was made across the period of a decade, and contained recordings from that whole period. The new one was mostly written in the last couple of years, and as a result feels more cohesive and interconnected, more of a consistent piece.

Name one or two challenges you face as an indie musician in this oversaturated, digital music age? How has technology helped you (since we know it does help)? 

Technology enables people to make their music available to the world really easily. So, part of you is frustrated that you’re shouting in a room full of other people shouting, of course it’s a challenge to be heard, but ultimately, you’re adding to the shouting too.

In the days before everybody had a laptop with recording software, an aspiring musician would collide with reality: that they were never going to be able to make their album. They would be forced to get on with their lives, pay attention to their families, get a mortgage, reduce the amount of metaphorical shouting they were doing, that sort of thing. Today, if you’re a musician, you can literally release records that nobody buys, and it doesn’t matter. This can be extremely liberating, creatively, but it might also be a trap.

I’d better get back to the shouting.

What was the last song you listened to?

Actually, I am currently mixing an album for my friend Mads, who makes music under the name Psychic Seizures.

Which do you prefer? Vinyl? CDs? MP3s?

MiniDisc?

For almost all purposes, I have to say that MP3 wins. Almost all. However, there is something about listening to a record on vinyl, something created before the advent of digital recording. The music is physical. But for someone like me, who travels around all the time, it’s about as practical as having my own live band with me, like some kind of delusional idiot hosting an imaginary chat show, which now I get to the end of the sentence I realise is Kramer from that episode of Seinfeld, but I’ve already invested enough in the metaphor that I’m going to leave it in.

How about this one…. Do you prefer Spotify? Apple Music? Bandcamp? Or something else? Why?

I used to love e-music, back in the day, but it’s been useless since they lost loads of stuff from their catalogue. Spotify gets some criticism, but if you try to look at it as a discovery platform, then if you discover something on there which you love, you should help the artist out by visiting their Bandcamp!  

Where is the best place to connect with you online and discover more music?

The usual. The official website has a mailing list you can sign up to. Then there’s Facebook, Twitter, Bandcamp, Soundcloud, you know.  

Anything else before we sign off?

Mind if I just shout for a bit?