ALEX MOSES // XO, AM

If you’ve been having a little dig through Triple J Unearthed you may have come across singer-songwriter Alex Moses and his indie offering, Keep in Touch. If you haven’t though, allow us to introduce you to your new favourite track.

MORE: THE HYST LIST: The Top Ten Musical Bamboozles That Scramble Your Brain // GHOST: Arise From Leviathan’s Shadow // REVIEWS: I PREVAIL: Trauma // DEVIN TOWNSEND: Empath // TOTALLY UNICORN: Sorry // ELUVEITIE: Ategnatos

Coming in at just under three and a half minutes, Keep in Touch is vulnerable, raw and most excitingly, the first taste of solo music from the Columbus frontman—more please!

Ahead of its official release, Hysteria caught up with Alex Moses to chat about the track and his plans for 2019.

Hysteria: Can you tell us a bit about your new single Keep in Touch? What kind of story where you trying to tell with it?

Alex: I wrote it a while ago, probably a year and a half ago. I had met my current girlfriend while I was interstate playing a music festival. I had to say goodbye and go home and I didn’t know if I was going to see her again, I wrote the song about those fleeting moments of meeting people and the thoughts you get in your head on whether or not it’ll work out, I guess we all go through that sort of thing all the time. My girlfriend and I teetered between being long distance and not for a while, so I wrote the song about the excitement and uncertainty that came with it.

How did the recording process go?

It went really well, I recorded a bunch of demo versions at home. I’m not a drummer or anything, so with this song, I took my ideas to Joel Quartermain, who is a friend of mine and a really great producer, and he played the drum and bass. We recorded that in his studio and then I recorded a bunch of extra guitars and vocals at home in a small studio setup. I mixed it at home too. It was really great, I was able to pour so much time into it and I’m really happy with how it came out.

How did the tour with William Ryan Key go?

Really well. I was kind of nervous because Yellowcard were one of my favourite bands when I was a bit younger, a lot of people were obsessed with them. I hadn’t listened to much of his solo stuff before the tour but it’s completely different to Yellowcard, kind of like my music. He was really lovely though, and the shows went well. They gave me an opportunity to try out some of my new songs, and I played a bunch of Columbus songs acoustically too.

Columbus has always been a place where I’ve been able to express those feelings and other more energetic feelings. I’m going to use my solo project as an avenue to go further down that quieter path of vulnerability and everything like that because it probably represents those feelings better than Columbus could.
[ Alex Moses ]

There are obvious similarities that can be drawn between the musical journeys of you and William Ryan Key, so did you pick up any tips and tricks from him?

I think so. It was really cool to learn from him and see what he does in a quiet acoustic setting, coming from a band like Yellowcard. Even in crowd interaction, instead of being a big personality rockstar, he was a lot quieter and sweeter and charismatic. It was really cool to see two sides to him and I think that’s something that’s really important if you’re trying to do multiple musical endeavours.

How do you find this solo project has compared to your band Columbus?

It’s not as immersive yet, I’ve always played acoustic guitar and I’ve always really liked acoustic music, I’ve just also really liked punk and rock music. I’ve had a little time to express myself in an acoustic way in Columbus, doing a couple of quiet songs, but it is nice to play music that isn’t supposed to be fast, angsty or angry. This is more relaxed and chilled, it’s a different mood. I think it’s cool because you want to get that whole spectrum of feelings and emotions and sometimes in a fast rock or punk sense it’s hard to get that. I can get my anger out with Columbus and be a little bit softer with my own songs (laughs).

Lyrically, I feel like Columbus has always been a little vulnerable. Are you finding that this solo project has allowed you to get those feelings out even more?

I think being one person, it’s hard to completely distance lyrics between different music projects and I’ve never had to do this before so we’ll see what happens! Columbus has always been a place where I’ve been able to express those feelings and other more energetic feelings. I’m going to use my solo project as an avenue to go further down that quieter path of vulnerability and everything like that because it probably represents those feelings better than Columbus could.

Who have been some of your major musical influences with this side project?

I like a lot of acoustic music spanning from acoustic emo music to indie and folk music. I’ve always been a little bit obsessed with The Lumineers which is a very mainstream folk answer but they’re a really great band. On that same scale, bands with a big acoustic presence in an emo world like Death Cab for Cutie and Dashboard Confessional have always had big acoustic hits and really great songwriting that’s presented in a softer way. Bands like that have been an influence for me, even though my solo music might not necessarily sound like that.

What can we expect to see from Alex Moses in 2019?

It should be a big year, I’m planning a few shows and I’m working on some other music. It was exciting to get this single out to get a taste of one song and to see what people think—the reception has been really good. I’ve written heaps of songs so I’m looking forward to releasing more music and playing a lot more solo shows. I’ll also be doing a lot with Columbus as well.