supersonic
Artist Information
Biography
A VOICE drunk on honey, a double bass, suitcase drums, acoustic and electric guitars and a harmonica. The music of Moriarty floats between folk, country, blues and cabaret set somewhere around Dallas in the 1930's, the Russian Taïga and Paris. An infectious melody is carried by the luminous Rosemary, supported by unsettling lyrics and oozing train-like beats. Moriarty, a Franco-American band, a neurotic puppy and four schizophrenic kittens trapped in an aircraft baggage hold. Shoulder dance and shivers down the spine.
Formed in Paris as the century turned, Moriarty saw five young musicians adopt each other and write songs like novels or short movies. Their identities split between America and Europe, the members of Moriarty are guided by the surreal, believing in an animist fashion that some objects have a soul : a squeaking floorboard, a hotel bell, the rhythm produced when battering a well-traveled suitcase, a taxicab dispatch microphone, a whisk and other chance findings crawl into their songs. But this is also music for the joy of spontaneous story-telling, of spilling out lines that ease into the rehearsal room and then form into characters, adventures and nostalgia.
Influences
A 1957 acoustic guitar plucked one night by Joan Baez. A dobro played by Ali Farka Touré. Mistakes and misunderstandings. Lewis Carroll. The sibling-like love and rivalry of the group. Soft spoken violence and anger. An intense yearning by five creatures who want to play as one. Travelling around with your home on your back. Everyone Loves. A diabolical mind.
Instrumentation
Rosemary Moriarty : Singer, xylophone, thumb piano, spoons, tambourine, scotch-tape trumpet...
Arthur Moriarty : Acoustic guitars, drum-suitcase, piano
Zim Moriarty : Double-bass, acoustic guitar, music box, suitcase drum
Thomas Moriarty : Chromatic and diatonic harmonicas, kazoo, drilling machines, jew's harp
Charles Moriarty : Electric and resonator guitars
Discography
Debut Album :“Gee Whiz, but this is a Lonesome Town”, Oct. 2007 release.
The album was recorded live in 7 days, in a farm near Merlin the magician’s tomb.
Links
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Press
Setlist
Our set can be 25 or 90 minutes long.... depends on the gig, place, situation, wills...
