Music / Moonshake

Moonshake were an experimental rock/Post-Rock band lead by Dave Callahan - of indie rock group The Wolfhounds - and (initially) Margaret Fielder - who was also a founding member of fellow post-rock outfit Laika and later a live guitarist with PJ Harvey and Wire.

The band formed in 1991, naming themselves after the Can song of the same name, releasing their debut EP - aptly titled First - the same year, following a more shoegaze-rooted sound. Their second EP - Secondhand Clothes leaned more into the more dub-influenced sound they'd become best known for, and their debut album - Eva Luna - leaned even further into it alongside other genres like breakbeat, noise rock, post-punk, and krautrock.

After Eva Luna, which was highly acclaimed for its unusual use of sampling and eclectic sonic palette - the band released their third EP - Big Good Angel, where Fielder and Callahan contributed three songs each - before the band basically split in half, with Fielder and bassist John Frennett leaving to form Laika after creative differences. The band then became a duo composed of Callahan and drummer Mig Moreland, leading to the creation of the band's second album, the film noir-esque and sax-and-sample-based The Sound Your Eyes Can Follow.

After this, Moreland left to join Moose (leaving Callahan as the sole original member) and would be replaced by new drummer Kevin Bass. Raymond Dickatay (who'd worked on the The Sound as a guest-saxophonist) joined as a full-time member, followed by Matt Brewer as the new guitarist and Katherine Gifford guest-starring as a female vocalist live.

After a few live shows, Gifford and Bass would leave to form indie rock group Snowpony, with drumming duties being taken up by Michael Rother (not the one from Neu!). This final lineup would record the group's third and final album, Dirty & Divine, and after the years of self-management and hard touring took their toll, the band amicably split up in 1997. Since then, Callahan has gone on to reform The Wolfhounds, and has teased new Moonshake material but - so far - hasn't put anything out or provided a release date.

Discography

• First (EP, 1991)
• Secondhand Clothes (EP, 1991)
• Eva Luna (Album, 1992)
• Big Good Angel (EP/Mini-album, 1993)
• The Sound Your Eyes Can Follow (Album, 1994)
• Dirty & Divine (Album, 1996)

Tropes associated with the band include;

• Abusive Parents: The boyfriend mentioned in "Helping Hands"; when the social worker/doctor enters his house, his children have "hungry eyes" and his baby daughter is found with marks around her waist. When Justin comes home from his night shift, he wrestles the infant from the 'manicured hands' and presumably kills her.
• Capitalism Is Bad: Discusssed in "Capital Letters";
  And now the world of skinny models
  Kissing coals [?]
  And Munich streets laid with marble
  And Cologne gives off a heavy mist
  And Paris bridges are all catwalks
  London stocks [?] grow
  And I wouldn't trade in New York
  For all the [?] I could smoke
  ...
  Well I came in cold but I was never sold
  That the streets were painted gold
  People with that kind of pay don't give it away
  So I guess I'll go collect my paycheck
  Take some snacks, buy souvenirs
• Country Mouse: The protagonist of "Capital Letters" describes themselves as a "crummy fucking creep from the sticks" who moves to the big city, and quickly becomes disillusioned with it.
• Darker and Edgier: Big Good Angel is this to the already pretty dark-sounding Eva Luna, with a heavier use of noise and dissonance, plus even grimmer subject matter.
• Drum and Bass: Though not a full-on DnB song, "Two Trains" is built upon a wild, jittery breakbeat, as is "Shadows of Tall Buildings" and "House On Fire".
• Early-Installment Weirdness: First is a more shoegaze-influenced EP, more in line with Callahan's work with the Wolfhounds. Their later releases featured some shoegaze aspects (e.g "Spaceship Earth" from Eva Luna), but First is their only release to tackle the style full-on.
• Epic Instrumental Opener: "Joker John" is a nearly 5-minute song that takes just under 2 minutes to introduce any vocals.
• Epic Rocking: "Just a Working Girl" and "Ghosts of Good Intention" from The Sound Your Eyes Can Follow, at 6 and 7 (nearly 8) minutes long respectively. Additionally, "Coming" from First and "Drop in the Ocean" from Secondhand Clothes both last 6 minutes.
• Film Noir: Callahan had a very strong interest in film noir, and attempted to emulate its aesthetics in the band's music while the then two-piece was making The Sound Your Eyes Can Follow, combining the band's already moody atmosphere with heavier jazz elements.
• Guest Star: PJ Harvey contributes guest vocals to "Your Last Friend In This Town" and "Just A Working Girl".
• I'm a Humanitarian: The protagonist of "Flow" mentions how the other character's "skin tastes so salty" and "like mushrooms", and how they'd "swallow [them] whole". The first verse also implies Autocannibalism.
• Lighter and Softer: While the rest of The Sound Your Eyes Can Follow is hectic and describes a dirty suburban hellscape, closer "Into Deep Neutral" is a poppier and brighter-sounding tune encouraging the listener to find respite in the face the modern world's chaos and pressure.
• New Sound Album:
  • Secondhand Clothes shifts away from the shoegaze sound of First, incorporating elements of dub and post-punk.
  • The Sound Your Eyes Can Follow is a much jazzier effort than the Fielder-era recordings,
• Perishing Alt-Rock Voice: Of different extremes - Fielder's voice is fairly low and weak-sounding, while Callahan's voice sounds harsher and strained.
• Phony Psychic: The protagonist of "Seance" calls an old man over to help him contact his dead wife and, upon realising he's a fraud after nothing comes of it, calls him out as exploitative and tells him to get out.
• Phrase Salad Lyrics: "Tar Baby" appears to be this at first;
  Magpie, porkpie, don't eat that
  Buzzard's gizzard, don't eat that
  Frog in your stomach the size of a fist
  Don't look away in case you miss
  Bright blue fishes in the sea
  Swimming backwards for you and me
  Licorice eels light up the night
  Glowing and glowing and glowing bright
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: "City Poison";
  You walk like a thief into my life
  You do not respect my bed just for the night
  You slag off everything that I hold dear
  And you bring your city poison 'round here
  ...
  You use what is given without debt
  You spend the commitment like a check
  You fuck to find your peace of mind, you can't see the mess you leave behind
  Your progress is empty but sincere
  And you bring your city poison 'round here
  • "Wanderlust" eventually becomes one of these to mankind as a whole, with the "Johnny Vagrant" it initially mentions being a metaphor for all of society's ills.
• Reggae: Moonshake were heavily influenced by dub-reggae, like many other post-rock bands from the time.
• Revolving Door Band: Callahan is the only band member who stayed throughout the group's entire run, with other members leaving and joining between albums.
• Sour Outside, Sad Inside: The protagonist of "Two Trains";
  I'm whining, nagging and nervous
  I'm compulsive, frivolous
  Overweight and hairy
  Don't you just wanna meet me
  ...
  I'm [?], I never come-a crashing
  Breathing in and out, in and out, in and out
  Riverboat low, that's when I'm on board
  Whatever I get, I still want some more
• Shout-Out: "Wanderlust" begins on the line "Here comes Johnny vagrant", which references and is even sung to the rhythm to the opening line of "Lust For Life" by Iggy Pop ("here comes Johnny Yen again").
• Spoken Word in Music: "The Grind" features narration by Molly Burnham, describing the 'daily grind' and the desire to escape it.
• Trip Hop: Delved into this frequently; "Secondhand Clothes", "Blister", "Wanderlust", "Bleach & Salt Water", "Little Thing", "Girly Loop", "Seance", "Your Last Friend in This Town", "Ghosts of Good Intention", "Cranes", "Gambler's Blues", "The Taboo"...
• Uncommon Time:
  • "Bleach & Salt Water" and "The Sound Your Eyes Can Follow" are in 6/4
  • "Little Thing" and "Your Last Friend In This Town" are in 7/4. "Joker John" and "Just A Working Girl" have sections in 7/8.
  • "Flow" has 4/4 verses, with a chorus that starts in 5/4 before shifting into 7/4.
• Urban Hellscape: Where most of their songs take place; many songs discusss issues like society's ills ("Wanderlust", "City Poison"), the less-than-stable ("Tar Baby", "Two Trains", "Seance"), abusive and neglectful parents ("Helping Hands"), alienation and isolation ("Capital Letters", "Spaceship Earth"), and other similar subjects, all taking place in urban settings.
• Vocal Tag Team: On the releases under their initial lineup, Callahan and Fielder trade vocals every few songs.
• Voice of the Legion: A subtle-but-effective one is used in the latter half of "Helping Hands".
• Wanderlust Song: "Capital Letters" plays with this; it follows a 'creep from the sticks' moving to a large city for a better life... and subsequently feeling alienated and disenchanted with how it's dominated by capitalism and materialism.
  • Funnily enough, they have a song actually called "Wanderlust", which is about as far from one of these as you can get.