Moontype's Songs Of Fellowship: 'The Music Got Better As We Got Closer'

The origin story of Chicago musical group Moontype goes like this: A trio of music conservatory graduates set out on a journey with each other. While doing so, they learn how to bend three distinct sources of sound — bassist-vocalist Margaret McCarthy, guitarist Ben Cruz, and drummer Emerson Hunton — into harmonious unity. Yet that version doesn't tell the entire story of how Bodies of Water, their yearning, personalized, excellently crafted debut album out tomorrow (April 2), came to sound as versatile as it does, spanning folk, post-punk, fuzzy rock, and chillingly confessional songwriting across 12 distinct tracks. While the closer stretches out to eight minutes, nearly half don't break past three, making Moontype a decidedly hard musical group to classify. However they know what they're not: jammers.


"We don't really jam that much," McCarthy tells MTV News. Cruz clarifies: "We goof a lot, although we don't typically play a part over and over and over and over and over again." To be clear, no one would mistake Moontype for a jam musical group. Their songs stem from McCarthy's solo bass compositions given prosperous new textures by Cruz and Hunton, while her lyrics evoke Midwestern malaise, the fizz of "fuck-me eyes," and the inner dilemmas of probing one's deepest emotions. Whenever will I learn to pick pain over suffering?" Goes one unforgettable chorus.) Immediately after Oberlin College, where Emerson and Ben studied jazz efficiency, and Margaret was one of "the weirdos playing synths in the basement of the conservatory," the three linked up in Chicago to add muscle behind McCarthy's early work.


Four of these skeletal tunes show up on Bodies of Water, invigorated by a collaborative spirit; jittery opener "Anti-Divinity" becomes a full-on firebomb, while "About You" sharpens into single material (the musical group released it in early February to hype the album). Yet it's remarkable how totally formed Bodies of Water sounds, a testament to both McCarthy's vision and the synergy between the three as they continue to write collaboratively. On a recent Zoom call, they explained how their friendship solidified through playing rather personalized music with each other, something Hunton called unique to Moontype.


"A lot of those songs do feel like they're really specific and strong emotional experiences that Margaret has. Right now, we're really close, yet I remember it feeling very intimate once we were new companions he says. "All of a sudden, it's like, oh, this is what this song is about. It's really cool, nevertheless that was an intense thing. We are distributing this thing now that is yours. We are getting closer by the minute because of that." In the spirit of sharing experiences, McCarthy, Cruz, and Hunton discussed to MTV News about how friendship permeates Bodies of Water, where they find inspiration, and math rock.


MTV News: Margaret, you initially wrote some songs on bass alone. What was it like any time once you all began playing music with each other and translating those compositions?


Margaret McCarthy: They were sort of totally formed, in terms of sections and the melody and bassline. Yet I began playing them with Ben first, and I think just because there really are only two lines happening, there really are no chords. There's room for flexibility on what the chords are.


Ben Cruz: the opening time I heard Margaret, I heard one of her solo sets, and I was like, this is really cool. Although also, the songs did feel very completely formed. So I was like, I would love to play these with her, nevertheless While I was doing it, I was like, wow, what am I supposed to do? Eventually, it was a matter of attempting to calculate what textures things needed, which is once we determined that we wanted to have drums in the musical group. I called Emerson.


Emerson Hunton: [It was] certainly a fun process for me because all of a sudden, we had a bunch of songs that existed, and I got to play them. It was really nice. I mean, it's just really fun to have it be that quick and being able to listen to the solo versions of just Margaret singing and playing the bass. I thought it was really interesting how it felt different having just two melodies, one vocal, and one bass — two lines moving with each other. It really widened things up and changed how I thought about where to put the bass drum. Do I just treat Margaret's basslines as another piece of the musical group as a substitute opposed to just being a static bassline? I think that changed my process at least and opened it up in a really nice way.


MTV News: Any time while you listen to the album, is it like you're essentially listening to the sound of the three of you getting really close?


Hunton: Yeah, I think that's a nice way to put it. I'll sign off on that.


Cruz: the entire method of the musical group has been becoming close together, and the music got better as we got closer. So I think by the time we were prepared to record, it seemed like, we were there. We were at this point where things were very open and we felt very good and close to each other.


McCarthy: I would write a song, and it's me alone in my room having some tense feeling. Then I'm sharing the intense feeling with Ben and Emerson. They're picking up on it, and yes it snowballs a little. I could have angst, however it's like, I don't have any pedals. I don't play that loud. So then Ben's playing really loud, angsty chords. Emerson's hitting the drum super hard. I feel like I can feel the feeling that I was already feeling however feel it more. We're feeling it with each other. It feels really good.


MTV News: I think friendship is a theme of the album, also, also it comes up on quite a couple of tracks. Have you thought about friendships disappearing or reappearing in light of the past year and being physically separated from friends?


McCarthy: I sort of feel like I haven't really lost any companions to the pandemic yet I've maybe had to calculate ways to preserve them more intentionally, for sure. It's funny because I feel on the album, that theme is more about moving and being far away from people as well as changing as people. Then you sort of drift apart, drift with each other, or whichever. Throughout this year, it's been more about logistics to stay companions with people. Like, everyone's certainly stressed out, which is hard. Nevertheless also, I feel like everyone's really understanding of each other and attempting to stick together.


Hunton: A lot of those songs are certainly about that same push and pull of attempting to stay close with companions. I feel like Margaret's songs can typically about companions. I certainly feel they feel different, however yet still, possibly, there's a stronger emotional connection to them right now. Maybe you think about them in that way. I haven't really thought about that intentionally, yet that is something I've found. Some other people have mentioned that about "Ferry" any time it was first out, [that] it feels like it's about that. I can certainly read it that way and that feels very relevant right now.


MTV News: This is routinely a hard question, however musically, what artists do you like? As well as, what have you heard that was cool that you attempted to maybe lean into in your own music?


Cruz: We all did play in a nation band.


Hunton: I've Been listening to more weird indie bands lately. I've routinely listened to overly complex, contemporary jazz music plus a lot of noisy improv stuff in Chicago. I routinely have played that since I've lived here. Margaret really likes crazy, more modern-produced pop songs, as do I. We like all of that stuff. I think probably what we sound like is just given the instruments we're playing and we can mimic or perhaps think about other things subconsciously.


McCarthy: I remember as soon as we first began playing, I was attempting to think about what genre we are. There was certainly a time Whenever I was like, we're certainly math rock, although I didn't really know what that meant.


Cruz: We also do share a lot of music together. Like, the collection of times I stumbled upon some cool thing and I'm like, Emerson, check this out, or vice versa, or Margaret, or whichever. That is something that's happening really constantly.


MTV News: Mention you're playing a show and someone who's either in high school or college comes up to you and says, "I'm just beginning to prepare music. I have questions about sticking it out." What might you mention to them?


McCarthy: It's funny that you're asking that question because it's not like I crucially was ever like, yeah, I'm going to go be a musician. This is going to be my life. This is how I'm going to do it. That isn't what happened at all. So I really feel like what I would mention is just like: Make music in a way that feels good for as long as it feels good. And if it helps to avoid feeling good, don't do it anymore.