Flying Moon In Space are a seven-piece band from Leipzig, Germany borne out of live improvisations which are known to last for hours at a time. Having clocked-up nearly fifty shows in their home-city alone, as well as support slots with The Holydrug Couple, Elephant Stone and The Sweet Release of Death and a couple of headline tours around Europe, the group just released their debut LP Ardor on Fuzz Club Records.
Although they cite influences that span the likes of Can, Neu!, Brian Eno and Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Flying Moon In Space’s incoming debut is indebted to the band’s own experimental live approach more than anything else. Their improvised live shows typically see them perform with four guitars, bass, drums and vocals, resulting in huge walls of sound that are awash with hypnotic motorik beats and orchestral walls of reverb. Talking about the record they say: “We gain our main influences during experimenting live with different rhythms, layers of sounds and other textures. The energy that comes up playing live with that amount of people takes our perception of music to another dimension. We developed the whole album during our live shows in 2019 so they really capture a certain moment for the band.”
Opening with ‘Universe’, a bliss inducing melody sets the tone before lyrics are introduced and complex layers of sound are built. ‘The Observer’ ups the tempo a touch and channels some jazz vibes in part, utilises a soul groove at its heart and has an infectious motorik beat to boot. Next they move seamlessly into ‘Faces’ which changes track somewhat with an industrial vibe permeating at the beginning and shades of techno in the echoing vocals. ‘Baustelle’ is an instrumental interlude before ‘Steam Water Solid’, the strongest and strangest track on the LP serves up a slice of surrealist psychedelia that takes you on a journey wherever you want to go. ‘Where Lovers Meet’ could be the soundtrack to many such scenes in underground movies and title track ‘Ardor’ is a sinister, throbbing drone that clocks in at 11 minutes and borders on the industrial. Talking about the track, a piece of primal, scorched-earth psych that captures Flying Moon In Space at their darkest, the band say: “Sometimes there comes welling-up from the deep, a sensation so intense that it can only be described with sounds and mutters.” ‘Next Life’ ends the main set of tracks with a dreamscape far removed from their East German origins, it captivates and allows you to drift with the music. They conclude with two radio edits.
It’s clear how their sound was built out of improvisation and it’s not always easy to capture that on record, but they have and produced a record many will flock too.
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