Interview :: SONNYMOON

I first heard of SONNYMOON on the homie, Melo-X's blog when he dropped his remix of the duo's cover of Drake's Houstatlantavegas, which was one of my favorite tracks from Melo's new mixtape Audio Foreplay.  Professionally trained jazz musicians, the graduates of the Berklee School of Music Dane Orr and Anna Wise have come together about a year ago to form their band, choosing their name Sonnymoon as an homage to the legendary jazz saxaphonist Sonny Rollins. Anna's sensual and ethereal voice gives the band's sound a distinct character, which could be described as a hypnotizing genre-bending fusion of experimental jazz, trip-hop, ambient electronica, alternative rock and hip-hop, drawing inspirations as wide-ranging as artists like Portishead, Bjork, Flying Lotus, Little Dragon, Black Dice, J-Dilla or Drake. Their debut album GOLDEN AGE that dropped last December as a free download (see link below) got raving reviews and has been building up the hype around the band's NYC debut coming this Sunday, May 16 at Le Poisson Rouge (which also be a celebration of Melo's birthday-not to be missed!). I am one of the hosts of the event, so I got a chance  to do a quick interview with them.  Here it goes...

Lichiban: I heard you guys live in Boston. Are you from there? How is the music scene there? Do you know the guys from Passion Pit who came out of Boston and recently gained international fame?

SM: Sadly Passion Pit left Boston before we got here. People are always in and out of Boston in a few years it seems because it’s such a college town. However, that means that the house party scene is bangin. The best gigs we’ve had here were house parties, the energy is crazy, but it’s weird because we never play with bands that sound anything like us.

L: If you would have to describe your sound with 5 word…
Experimental, rhythmic, fluid, playful, dissonant




L: How long have you guys been making music?
SM: We had our first birthday a few months ago.

L: I first heard you guys through the homie, Melo-X’s remix of your cover of Drake’s “Houseatlantavegas”. Who came up with the idea to cover the song?
SM: Melo-X is the dude, we’re meeting him in person for the first time this week. We get lots of crazy ideas and have fun executing them, and that song was one of many things we did in October when we were bored.

L: What’s the process of making a song? Is there a pattern or is it more fluid?
SM: There is no pattern, at least not yet. We can never expect the next song to come out the same way as the one before. If there were a method to the madness, we’d probably get bored with it. The best shit happens when we’re messing around and not taking ourselves too seriously.

L: What would be a dream place to play at?
SM: Our hometown spots, Yoshi’s in Oakland and the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in upstate NY.

L: If you were offered to choose, who would you like to tour with?
SM: Likeminded musicians. It would be cool to tour with a group of maybe 4 bands and each performance would flow seamlessly into the next with no breaks. Each act could contribute to an overall experience, like a movement in a suite. Fever Ray being featured somewhere in the line-up would be supreme.

L: What was your favorite 3 albums of the last year?
Little Dragon – Machine Dreams
Lil Wayne – No Ceilings
Atlas Sound - Logos

L: What are you working on next?
SM: Our NY debut is this coming Saturday. Check event info here.  
Keep googling us, you’ll find out what were up to. We are twitter nerds @sonnymoonmusic

L: Shoutouts?

SM: Raydar Ellis, Meghan Stabile and Revive Da Live, Dawaun Parker, Anthony Valadez and KCRW, @DiscJockeyLE, Blindiforthekids, Couch Sessions, AMB, Bars Up.

FREE DOWNLOAD : Sonnymoon 'GOLDEN AGE'

Check out more about the event on facebook.