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Music

One giant leap for Man To Moon on their Lost Nights EP

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Having met in high school, Central Coast band Man To Moon were jamming together for years before officially developing a band in late 2014. Since then, the four-piece have sold out their launch show held earlier this year in June, supported The Getaway Plan and recently released their debut EP Lost Nights; a set of five songs set out to “Make anyone bop their head, tap their feet and want to get up and dance“.

Man To Moon Lost Nights

Man To Moon are blasting off with their party-driven alternative rock. Marinated in textured guitars, their debut EP Lost Nights is an ode to youth.

The central sound running through Lost Nights is that of twangy modern Australian rock – think along the same lines as Melbourne’s The Temper Trap, for example. Voices opens with guitar tones strikingly similar to the latter band and follow a familiar structure in terms of pairing stripped back melodic-driven verses with a high impact chorus. We’re also introduced to vocalist Patrick Joseph’s smooth yet unwavering singing as he ties the whole song together with strength and passion.

The title track Lost Nights rolls in next, bringing something slower and a little more sultry to the table. Man To Moon weaves through a sweet story of seduction and thrill, as the lyrics speak of throwing caution to the wind with a lover before willingly getting lost in the night. Basically, if Joseph’s impeccably clean singing of “Come on baby let me show you the night, I’ve got a whole lot of love that I just need to get right, but if you leave me now you’ll never know ‘cause in the blink of an eye, I’m gone” isn’t enough to have fans swooning in awe then I don’t know what will.

Around the 2.20 mark the song kicks it up a gear and incorporates percussion followed by a short guitar solo. The guitar solo is the first of a few interesting, and somewhat unexpected, nuances scattered throughout the EP, which really help distinguish Man To Moon from other Australian alt-rock bands.

Track three Lonely Throne is one of the more commercial tunes on the EP, following a pretty stock standard sound and providing a dark quality to the overall light-hearted compilation. The band feature gritty vocals and steady rock rhythms against a story of the man on the moon who has “Run away from his crime” and now resides in isolation. The song comes across somewhat confusing as the first half adheres to a generic sound but then the second half breaks into another one of those surprisingly, ridiculously interesting moments I’ve grown to love on this release.

Around three minutes in Man To Moon let loose and unleash another killer guitar solo, like in Lost Nights but much stronger. From this point, a new energy is breathed into the song and varying textures are explored. In saying this, there are a few prime moments for singalongs, such as the ba-da-da-da bridge and a few ooooh’s, so it’s possible my confusion towards this song would disappear if it was placed in a live context.

There’s no doubting Freak Show is a crowd pleaser (and if it isn’t already, it will be). As the first single released from the Lost Nights EP, this song embodies the enthusiastic, dynamic sound and knack for writing catchy hooks that characterise Man To Moon. Between the pumping beat, hasty vocals and fast jagged riffs it’s too easy to miss each carefully thought out element in Freak Show, begging to be replayed over and over. Finally, in typical Man To Moon style, the highlight of the song comes just over half way through as the instruments cut down to weird but enticing set of scales that launches back into another chorus.

The final song Fear is arguably the riskiest track on the LP, featuring edgy vocals that jump up and down on a bed of almost tropical sounding beats. With a variety of vocal styles, some rougher than others, it feel as though a few songs have been mashed together. Oddly enough, it kind of works.

The Lost Nights EP has more of a showcase feel to it rather than a cohesive themed compilation. Man To Moon have talent bursting at the seams and have the ability to dip their toes into a range of rock styles, as seen in their release; although they could benefit from refining their sound and honing in on those intriguing nuances sprinkled throughout the five songs. It’s still early days for the band but from the vast array of sounds we’ve heard on Lost Nights, their future looks pretty damn promising.

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