UK post-rock duo MILLION MOONS unveil a brand-new single and share why they chose the topic of dementia as the focus for their debut album, Gap in the Clouds!
Gap in the Clouds is a 10-track instrumental concept album that tells the story of one womanâs battle with and descent into dementia. Heavy Music Award-nominated producer George Lever (Sleep Token, Loathe, Monuments) produced the record, and it was partly recorded in Devonâs renowned Middle Farm Studios.
With influences including Caspian, If These Trees Could Talk and Sleepmakeswaves, this record is characterised by rich, atmospheric soundscapes that conjure feelings of melancholy and introspection.
Million Moons founding member Ed Thompson says: âAs anyone whoâs listened to Love of Cartography by Sleepmakeswaves will know, the names artists give to instrumental pieces play an important role in contextualising the music and grouping individual tracks into a cohesive whole. But we wanted to explore a distinct theme from typical post-rock topics such as space or exploration in this debut release.”
âAlzhemerâs is a subject thatâs close to our hearts and that chimes perfectly with the dark tone of our music. We hope the album both delights post-rock fans and encourages them to reflect on the nature of this often misunderstood disease.â
Post-rock albums conventionally deal with topics such as space exploration or wandering alone in the vast wilderness.
“This is fitting, because the dramatic soundscapes that are our genreâs bread and butter typically do take the listener on a kind of âsonic voyageâ.” – comments the band.
“Sleepmakeswaveâs Love of Cartography is just one example of a masterful instrumental record that uses this subject matter to tell a story through track names alone. Another is No Manâs Sky, 65daysofstaticâs soundtrack for the space exploration game by the same name. But in many ways, the greatest unexplored wilderness of all is the human mind. As Christof Koch, PhD, Chief Scientist and President of the Allen Institute for Brain Science, once scoffed: âWe donât even understand the brain of a worm.â”
“As Dr Koch and his colleagues note in this 2019 article, scientists still donât fully understand what the human brain is made of, how all the regions of the brain talk to each other or how changes in the brain cause or relate to neurological and psychiatric diseases.”
“Thatâs why we decided to turn our creative lens to the mysteries of the human psyche when writing our debut album, Gap in the Clouds.”
Words by MILLION MOONS:
The Meaning Behind ‘Gap in the Clouds’
Gap in the Clouds is a 10-track instrumental concept album that tells the story of one womanâs battle with and descent into dementia.
As well as being something a little bit different from your run of the mill post-rock album concepts, we have our own personal links to the disease that make this topic poignant for us. In particular, Edâs grandmother lived with dementia for many years (although the albumâs central character, Mia, isnât based on her directly).
Alzheimerâs is the most common form of dementia, accounting for at least 60% of cases. The World Health Organisation reports that 55 million people worldwide are currently living with dementia, and that there are 10 million new cases each year.
Whatâs more, itâs the disease that ultimately led fantasy author Terry Pratchett, one of our personal heroes, to end his own life.
Chaos in the Cobwebs
Itâs our hope that releasing this album will play a small role in helping to raise awareness of dementia and the signs of its early stages people should look out for. (These include forgetfulness, losing track of time and becoming lost in familiar places.)
To that end, itâs our great pleasure to unveil Chaos in the Cobwebs, the third single from Gap in the Clouds.
As with the whole record, this piece was brought to life with help from Heavy Music Award-nominated producer George Lever (Sleep Token, Loathe), and it was partly recorded in Devonâs renowned Middle Farm Studios.
This track is arguably one of the heaviest on the record, and itâs a personal favourite of ours because of the thumping drums in the intro and the soaring guitar lead lines throughout.
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