Moss Points North
Andrew McCloskey, Jordan Buchanan, Matt Ripley
Moss Points North (or MoPoNo) is a band consisting of vocalist, and guitarist Colin Lee, guitarist Pat McCusker, bassist Jesse Gottlieb, pianist Isaac Richardson, all friends that met at Berklee in 2007. As said in their bio, they “fuse earthy rock and nostalgic folk with ample doses of jazz, pop, and improvisation to produce Moss Point North’s signature sound.” The band lists Wilco, Radiohead, Bon Iver, along with older bands such as the Beatles and the Band, as some of their main influences of their music. We sat down with Colin, who is one of the main songwriters, to talk about their working practices and other topics.
Moss Points North generally creates songs through as a collaborative effort. The band used to write full songs individually, but have more recently decided to do most of their work as a group in order to enhance creativity. Usually a band member will come into the fold with a musical idea, be it rhythmic, sonic, or melodic and it is expanded upon by through group. They then riff and experiment with the idea until a clear A section of the song is created. Then, usually a member will come up with a different, but related musical idea in order to transition to a B section or a chorus. They often have different members riff on a melody to figure out orchestration and texture. If they hit a roadblock they use their extensive knowledge of music theory, as all members are Berklee grads, to figure out how to develop an idea better. Lyrics are usually the last part written. According to Lee, they use dummy lyrics as they write the music, until the piece is mostly done. Then, once they can get a feel for the mood of the piece the band comes up with fitting lyrics. After this, minor alterations are done over time, until a final version of the piece is finished. Lee also says that inspiration is a driving factor in passionate writing, but sometimes inspiration can be created through an exciting chord progression or musical aesthetic.
After a song is written, MoPoNo adds many different attributes to it, from horns and strings to complex harmonies. Lee explains how most of these decisions are made by saying, “Usually when you start a song, you have kind of like a vision for it in your head, like where you think it sort of fits in a context of sounds…Sometimes you can throw a lot of stuff at a song, and it doesn’t always stick. Sometimes you don’t really do that, you think to yourself well, it only needs a guitar, a string or a horn section or something like that. I think finding it is just sort of about listening, making sort of the right decisions in the band, listening back to a song and discussing it at length until you decide how you think the arrangement should serve the music.”
Lee lists some of his favorite places that MoPoNo has played at so far. That list includes Church bar, the Middle East, the Western Front and T.T. the Bears in Boston as well as many venues in NYC, including a show at the CMJ festival this year. Moss Points North typically plays most during spring, summer and fall, but they plan on taking a break on playing shows this winter to focus on new material and practice. The whole band lives in a house together, so it is fairly easy to practice at least once a week all together, or just jam with other members of the band in their attic turned practice space.
MoPoNo is a fantastic band with a great, original sound and vast musical knowledge. From where they have been so far, it is easy to see that they are going to be going places in the near future.
Song Analysis: “The Owls”
“The Owls,” written by Colin Lee and performed by Moss Points North, is an eerie ode to a nighttime hunt. The piece starts with an intro in D minor, as the guitar strums quiet, short chords. After a few measures the drums and a background guitar comes in, which swells haunting notes to set up the vocals to come in. The soft, emotive singing matches the way an owl might perch in his chestnut tree. The chorus starts after the verse maintains an A7 chord for some time and the drums and piano build to increase the volume.
The chorus is very short, 8 measures and only a few phrases of lyrics, but it modulates up to an F Major, then returns to the A7, then back down to the D minor and again back to the A7 before returning to the verse. This second time around there is more accompaniment and more background embellishments, especially in the piano, which wasn’t present until right before the chorus. The lyrics also shift focus from the owl to a fox and a rabbit, explaining their interaction before once again swelling into the chorus.
However, after the second chorus, there is a bridge, which starts with an unusual measure of 6/4. After this measure, we are introduced to more instruments, as there are now very clear horns in the foreground with the vocals. It’s not an overpowering sound and there is a definite Cake influence. The chord movement here starts with the D minor once again, but then alternates between G major and C major. This alternation matches the lyrical content that moves between the owl and the fox. As the bridge moves to an E7 that leads into an A minor, maintains intensity and the last vocal lines are sung over an F major, A7, then back to the D minor. Once the vocals cut out, the song starts to fade, with a Bb major and ending the song on F major.
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