Artist: MMOTHS
Album: Luneworks
Label: OYAE
Release date: 11/03/2016
MMOTHS, moniker of 22-year old Irish producer Jack Colleran, holds no stuttered connection to the Irish slang term for ladies onto which it's based, as it was a rash case of “that'll do” rather than seeking any symbolic relation to the light bulb encircling insect. Despite that, we could make a weary connection with his debut album Luneworks as while the nocturnal moth is arguably drawn to the moon for guidance, Colleran was also drawn to earth's only natural satellite during a time of personal upheaval. Leaving Ireland for L.A, he crafted his productions through the dark hours in a friend's tiny spare room with his 14-track offering taking geometrical inspiration from the meaning of ‘lune' which is how the light and dark parts of the moon interact.
It arrives three years after the last of his two bedroom produced EPs titled Diaries. His EP experiments made an impact and he can already boast of opening for Aphex Twin and having Flying Lotus tweet his support - not bad for just 22, and so I was keen to hear how he'd follow up previous works that attracted such esteemed praise. 'Eva' was the first track I heard and it just so happened to be on a day I was also of a slightly sombre mood. Its melancholic beauty is reminiscent of works from the likes of Balam Acab, Clams Casino or Holy Other. Five minutes easily becomes 10 and then 20, as it's difficult to deny just one more earful from the thudding 4/4 kick, unintelligible vocals, rolling surges and repeated withdrawals. Elsewhere, lead single 'Deu' is another engrossing electronic production with muffled vocals favoured again to decorate this slow, easy-going tempo track that climaxes in its final minute, before abruptly coming to a finish.
Some tracks are continuous and bleed into each other, while others are stripped of their elements until they come to a close. 'Phase In' and 'Phase Out', two intervals of 20 seconds each, on account of their titles would seem better placed at the beginning and end of Luneworks, but they don't, so I'm unsure of their purpose. They're identical in sound, which is essentially just quivering electronic noise, and the latter is followed by the pondering piano chord driven 'Ohm', making its placement sound all the more discordant.
Classically trained on piano from a young age, you can hear him exploring his early musical education with lingering emotive chords heard throughout his atmospheric productions. Luneworks gathers the threads from where he left them with Diaries and works them through a series of textural, downtempo compositions that mustn't be categorised as background fodder.
Tracklist:
1. You
2. Deu
3. Phase In
4. Para Polaris
5. Verbena
6. Scent
7. Eva
8. Lucid
9. Body Studies
10. 1709
11. Phase Out
12. Ohm
13. Naoko Pt. 1
14. Naoko Pt. 2
