Art Moore is the trio of Taylor Vick of Boy Scouts and Ezra Furman collaborators Sam Durkes and Trevor Brooks, and they're about to tour with Ezra this September. But first, they've just released their self-titled debut album via ANTI-. The album already sounds like a group who have been together for a long time, but in reality the project came about more recently, in an effort to write material for movies and art projects. "Four songs in, I think, after the first recording session, we realized it was going well, and it was pretty efficient," Brooks says. "Making music with both Sam and Taylor has always been so easy." That ease comes across in the trio's breezy dream pop, which makes for an addictive listen. Nowhere is that more evident than on the instant earworm "Snowy," which soothes with gentle, hazy indie rock while an undercurrent of melancholy tugs at the lyrics.
We asked the band to tell us about the influences behind Art Moore, and their list includes books, music, art, and gear. Read it, along with their commentary, below.
Art Moore's tour with Ezra hits NYC for a show at Webster Hall on September 21.
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ART MOORE - 6 INFLUENCES BEHIND THEIR SELF-TITLED DEBUT
1. Weather by Jenny Offill This was the only fiction book I read in 2020, the year we wrote and recorded the Art Moore record. Songs like "Bell" and "Snowy" were my first attempts at writing non-autobiographical songs, completely fiction. One’s about getting stood up, the other is about a widowed roadtripper. I love the way Jenny Offill writes about catastrophe - both at the global level and the personal. It’s an absolutely wild time to be alive and this book does a great job at illuminating the bizarre intersection of having mundane life tasks while experiencing the end of the world. (Taylor)
Weather - Jenny Offill
2. The Leslie Speaker My friend Stephen introduced me to the magic of the Leslie speaker when we were recording together back in 2018, we used a plug-in version on a guitar track and I’ve loved it ever since. After some experimenting at home with my own plug-in version I quickly found that I love the way it sounds running vocals through it — so that’s what I did for background vocals on "Sixish" and "Something Holy." The studio we were at, Coyote Hearing, had a real Leslie which was super cool to be able to use. It’s basically an amplifier that has a rotating drum/chamber in front of the loudspeaker, giving a super cool effect. (Taylor)
3. 4-Track Tape Recorder I started recording on a Tascam 4-track when I was 14 and ever since then they've been my go to tool for writing and demoing new material. I recorded the demo for "Bell" on a 4-track and we also recorded the drums and acoustic guitar for "Muscle Memory" on Sam's 4-track. It always acts as a funnel for ideas. All the best ones end up on a track and the unnecessary ones get thrown away because there's no room. It's a good way to pre-edit songs in the demo so the foundation ends up squeaky clean. They also provide instant vibe. (Trevor)
4. I Don't Fit In: My Wild Ride Through the Punk & Power Pop Trenches with The Nerves and The Beat By Paul Collins with Chuck Nolan I love the Nerves. Doesn't everyone? And I'm not passing up a book written by a drummer. I read this during the second half of recording up in Oakland, CA. It was a trip to read about punk in 1970s California while I'm driving up and down Interstate 5 (I live in Los Angeles). It put me in a mood for those sessions. Nothing overthought, just felt and let to run. (Sam)
I Don't Fit In: My Wild Ride Through the Punk & Power Pop Trenches with The Nerves and The Beat
5. The art of @ghettosino and @vecioitaliano I stumbled on their work during one of many deep IG dives I took in the bowels of the pandemic. They're two graffiti writers who live in Asia and Italy respectively (though you can't really tell). Clean lines, simple styles, can flex when they need to- I think that's similar to Art Moore. (Sam)
6. "Looking For Knives" - DYAN We started recording in January 2020. Woof. Soon after, we retreated home and started messing more with electronic stuff: synths, drum machines, computer sequencing. This is the song I instantly thought of as a jumping off point for me to figure out the coolest version of that. It's an amazing song, grounded by a throbbing synth pulse and ends up getting wild towards the end. Definitely an inspiration for "Rewind." (Sam)
ART MOORE: 2022 TOUR Sep-12 Montreal, QC La Sala Rossa * Sep-13 Toronto, ON The Rec Room * Sep-14 Detroit, MI The Loving Touch * Sep-15 Pittsburgh, PA Mr. Smalls Theatre * Sep-17 Baltimore, MD Ottobar * Sep-18 Philadelphia, PA Underground Arts * Sep-19 Providence, RI Fete Lounge * Sep-20 Boston, MA The Sinclair * Sep-21 New York, NY Webster Hall * Oct-12 Los Angeles, CA Zebulon Oct-13 San Francisco, CA Thee Parkside
