German band Moonarch blends engaging vocals and powerful instrumentals in a catchy rock sound that they describe as “big, anthemic and ethereal.”
The Hamburg quintet of Benjamin Burau, Leon Harden, Jesse Ahrens, Alessio Gjergo and Nikolas Dietrich released their debut single, Manifest, a year ago, signalling their intention to go big from the outset. As they tell us: “We’re striving for a big stadium rock sound, but with a modern twist.”
Our latest taste of this is their second single Free Falling, which was released at the end of February. It opens up with a heavy blast of instrumentals that quickly drop into laid-back vocals and a funky synth sound builds up to a big singalong chorus. The pace drops with stabs of guitar and piano supporting vocals that build towards another chorus. It slows down again with engaging vocals and more stabbing guitars, flowing into an even bigger chorus with the assistance of backing vocals, which take the lead in an interesting choral conclusion.
On the track, the band told us: “The reception has been good, our audiences like the new musical aspects that Free Falling is adding to our music, since it is quite different to Manifest.”
As mentioned, that follows on from Manifest, which opens with fun guitar chords and drawn-out vocals. Cool piano supports engaging vocals intersected by a piercing guitar lick, which gives way to another verse building up to a catchy chorus. A noodling little guitar solo takes over and drops into stabbing guitars that lead into another big chorus. Check it out in the stream here:
The Moonarch sound has been inspired by the likes of ABBA, Queen, Toto, Kansas and Porcupine Tree. And they tell us: “The 80s influence our music heavily. As for the lyrics, they are usually about the struggles of humanity and their individuals.”
There’s plenty more to come from Moonarch, who are working on new releases and hope to have two more singles out by the end of the year. They also hope to play as many gigs as possible.
You can follow Moonarch on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, and check out their music on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube.
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