A Quick Chat with MIlou Moon

Congratulations on your new EP ‘Trails To Centre’ If you were to create a perfect listening scenario for this record what would it be?
Thanks! So stoked to have this EP out in the world. If I could craft a perfect listening environment for it, it would probably look like this: ‘Trails to Centre’ is blasting while you drive down the coast or through the desert or really anywhere beautiful and ethereal (preferably in car with a super dope sound system). Alternative scenario: comfortably melted into a big bean bag with some fat speakers immersing you in a sea of sound. 

How does the muse appear for you, is it a blinding flash of inspiration, or is more of a process of gradual reveal?
For Drawn In, The Murray, and Spin Cycle, it was a gradual build where certain parts for songs would emerge and I’d add them to the whole, but for On Reflection, I basically wrote and recorded a demo for that whole song in one sitting over a few hours. Every once in a while, a song just writes itself, but this also has a lot to do with how available I am in that moment to receive the flow of ideas. I try to push everything else to the side if I’m feeling super inspired but sometimes it hits right as you have to go to work or something so then I just try to frantically record as detailed voice notes as possible for the moment (these are hilarious to listen back to, might have to leak one sometime lol). 

What's the creative process for you and the band, from writing through to recording?
For ‘Trails to Centre,’ I wrote and recorded everything on my own before I even had a band! My drummer George recorded drums on the EP at the end of the recording process (which is totally the reverse order of how you’re “supposed to do it lol) but otherwise all of the instrumentation/vocals were recorded by me at home. That’s probably why it took me so damn long to record this EP! I also had a few sick guitarist friends get involved to record lead guitar, including Mitch Ansell from Northeast Party House who plays (shreds) on Drawn In and On Reflection. 

My creative process is constantly shifting, partly because I like trying new approaches to writing and partly because I’m bad at sticking to routines haha. I find first thing in the morning a potent time to write because my logical brain hasn’t switched on. I also love walking around and just singing random melodies into my voice memos until I land on something I like. 

How I wrote Drawn In, for example, was that I had a guitar riff and chord progression in my head for weeks before I ever wrote a vocal melody resembling the one in the track. I just noodled on those chords for so long and had no intention of it going anywhere. I just love tracks that are two chord jammers and wanted to lean into that shoe gazey quality. Eventually the vocal melody emerged and I just built layers from there.

I assembled my band after recording this EP because I really wanted to get a live show going and start playing gigs, and I knew my three other band members (Sam O’Neil on guitar/synth, George DeSilva on drums, and Jevaan Waldron on bass) were total legends and amazing musos. It’s added a whole new element to my writing process because I now think about live arrangements as well as recorded. I often write a song and record a demo to bring to the band who will then learn it, and playing it live reveals things about the composition that didn’t feel obvious in the demo.  

When not working on music, what other creative outlet/s do you have?
When I’m not doing music, I’m pretty into visual art. At times that has looked like painting murals or ink/watercolors, but recently I’ve been teaching myself to use photoshop and making posters and digital content for Milou Moon and some of my other friends’ bands. 

Winter or summer and why?
Although I love seasons generally and shifting from one mood to the next, I gotta go with summer. I love the inspiration and energy that come from long days full of possibility. The winter is great for hunkering down and going inwards with creative projects but I find that my energy can dwindle if I’m cold all the time (I grew up in Chicago so you’d think I’d be hardened against the cold but nah). I currently trade Melbourne winter for Chicago summer (my home city), which is among my favourite times/places in the world. Long days, bike rides, swimming in the lake, so many gigs, playing pool, porch hangs, sun out till 9pm. I find that general summer energy invigorating and inspiring on a lot of levels. 

You're currently on tour, where can we catch you playing and who with?
We’re on tour with Harmony Byrne this weekend! Harmony is a good friend of mine going back to my earliest experiences in Melbourne when I arrived in 2016. (In fact, we met at an insane generator-powered doof our friend group threw in the remote dunes of Robe in SA for new years which I literally drove to from the airport when I moved to Australia).

On this tour with Harmony, we’re playing Friday May 24 in Canberra at Smith’s Alternative, on Saturday May 25 at the Currarong Bowlo, and on Sunday May 26 playing an arvo show at the Star Hotel in Yackandandah. Should be a good old time. I have a pretty good Aussie accent that I’ll certainly be busting out at some stage. 

 What else do you have planned for 2024?

Lotssss of exciting plans for 2024 :) We just recorded our second EP which I’m now in the process of producing at home and will be sending off to be mixed shortly. We’re aiming to drop the first single from that in September. I’m spending the Aussie winter in Chicago working on finalising and making videos for the EP and going deep into writing mode. There are so many tracks that I’ve got half finished that I’m excited to complete and lots of fresh inspiration bubbling up. I’m also going to be playing some shows, both solo and with a US-based band that I’m putting together for my time over there. The goal is to lay the groundwork to get my OG band from Melbs over to the states next year for a tour– currently putting that seed out there into the universe haha - grow lil seed grow! 

We plan to hit the ground running with shows in Australia from this September which will align with the launch of the first single from this next EP. We’re planning that as an east coast tour with some home shows in Melbs too. Also planning to tear through the festival circuit this silly season- just super keen for all of it!