I'm a programmer who values innovation. I am part of a formula sae club, and like to keep myself fit and aesthetic. I dabble in stocks too. Ig/twitter/youtube are all chris_chu_7. I want to make fire beats too.

Dust Moth is a nocturnal juggernaut gravitating towards the light—a restless collective of Seattle art rock veterans injecting beauty and femininity into their wall-of-sound dirges. Across the span of their seven year existence, the band has metamorphosed as it’s gained and shed members, cocooning for seasons at a time and reemerging as a further evolved and refined form. The process has been slow and steady, but the core DNA has always held the code for their distinctive sound—authoritative syncopated drums, thick bass lines, ethereal keyboards, Ryan Frederiksen’s spacious guitar melodies, and Irene Barber’s haunting and commanding vocals. With their sophomore album, Rising/Sailing, bassist Steve Becker and drummer Jim Acquavella have elevated past effort’s steady downbeat pulse with a backbeat thrust, giving the album a locked-in groove that replicates Zeppelin’s drive to be both sensual and authoritative. For Frederiksen and Barber, the strength of a new rhythm section allowed them to scale back on the saturated layers of guitar and keyboards, opening a deep dimensional sonic space and giving their songs space to breath.

The change in personnel and chemistry had a significant impact on Dust Moth’s sound, to the point where a name change was considered. “For the first few years of the band, people popped in and out and left little bits of themselves in the music so it feels like it took a while for the band to come into its own identity,” Frederiksen says. In that time they toured with Boston’s esteemed avant garde metallurgists Kayo Dot and post-metal luminaries Mustard Gas & Roses, ran through multiple pressings of their debut EP Dragon Mouth and first full-length Scale, and eventually watched the dissolution of their previous label Mylene Sheath (Caspian, If These Trees Could Talk, Pelican). But the musical evolution and business roadblocks ultimately didn’t alter Dust Moth’s sonic vision of creating something that felt narcotic and dreamlike in its harmonic content, but aggressive and muscular in its delivery. The name stuck.

Rising/Sailing was recorded by former bandmate Matt Bayles (Minus the Bear, Mastodon, ISIS) at renowned Seattle studio London Bridge with overdubs at Ex Ex and Studio Litho. The mixing was then handled by Erik Blood (Shabazz Palaces, Moondoggies, THEESatisfaction). Bayles expertly captures the heft, throb, and drive of the band while Blood brightens and refines the aural palette of Dust Moth to a triggering point for chromesthesia. Album opener “Annular Eclipse” sets the tone, with Frederiksen’s weeping slide guitar and Barber’s yearning vocals offset by Becker’s rumbling distorted bass and Acquavella’s stomping kick patterns and nimble hi-hat work. It feels like a punch to the stomach both physically and emotionally, a testament to the brawn and heart behind their music. The first half of the album winds down with “Other Worlds” where the band further demonstrates the broad spectrum of their sound, with banks of synths and woozy delay-drenched guitars creating a somber minor key symphony before making a subtle shift into major key dream pop at the halfway point of the song. The latter half of the album swings back into high gear with the oozy riffage, sultry vocals, and commanding force of “Flinching.” The band vacillates between its airy and beguiling charms (“Melted Monuments”), tightly wound austerity (“Motor”), and epic lush pay-offs (“I’m Not Anyone”). The end result is a journey that’s both elevating and crushing.

The Moses Gun - Chicago, IL

Vell Mullens - Guitar/Vocals and More
Rich Harris - Bass/Vocals and More
Jim Kendall - Drums/Vocals and More
 
http://themosesgun.bandcamp.com/

"...The self-titled full length, released on Chicago’s DKT records, is high-energy. Metal riffs offset frantic power-chords; the high-end crackle on distorted guitars is mellowed by singer Vell Mullen’s voice, a guttural swell of emotion. The Moses Gun is like a timeline bent over itself and turned to a circle, bringing together rock sounds from the last 30-odd years into one pounding album. The album is heavy for the most part, though Mullens and bassist Rich Harris know dynamics. The soft melody and harmony on “Better Things” brings to mind Pinback instead of Bad Brains." - Kyle Thacker for Heavemedia.com

"This scorching Chicago duo return for a proper full length release after generating a well deserved Midwestern buzz with their first EP. On their self-titled effort, The Moses Gun, bassist Rich Harris and guitarist/vocalist Vell Mullens, hone their sound into a cohesive yet bombastic assault, displaying greater subtly and dexterity than their previous work"..."If the Mayans are right about 2012, I want this one playing during our grand send-off" - Rich Quinlan for Jerseybeat.com

"One of the first skills any fledgling rock critic learns is to dismiss forthright any band’s alleged formula/recipe for how it crafted its sound: “We’re like the Beatles meet Led Zeppelin with a touch of the Monkees and a hint of Parliament-Funkadelic!” inevitably sounds like lame John Mayer (and yes, I know that’s redundant.) But the Chicago quartet The Moses Gun couldn’t help but pique my interest when bassist Rich Harris wrote to promise “a multicultural band that grew up listening to Todd Rundgren’s Utopia, Wu Tang and Husker Du…. sort of like an African-American Pixies, or Queens of the Stone Age.” And guess what? The band actually delivered it." "...the group has certainly taken its time issuing a proper recorded debut. But a new demo showcased on its Web page (www.myspace.com/themosesgun) holds plenty of promise for an actual album or EP, from the martial grooves of the verses yielding to the anthemic indie-rock choruses of “Gold” to the tuneful hard rock of “Stream of Consciousness,” which brings to mind Living Color jamming with Dinosaur Jr. That’s the thing about formulas/recipes: It’s hard to stop once you get started." - Jim DeRogatis for The Chicago Sun-Times

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