LIVE: Moon King - Scala, London 28.01.15

Rating:

Moon King are a dream-pop duo consisting of singer/songwriter Daniel Benjamin and singer/guitarist Maddy Wilde, hailing from Toronto, Canada. The duo (who gain an additional two members when playing live) came down to London to support their fellow Canadians, Alvvays, who were playing a sold out show at Scala.

The crowd seemed a bit apprehensive at first, but warmed up when it became apparent that this was an act with a lot more stage presence than your typical deer-in-headlights support band. Frontman Daniel Benjamin carries himself with a real conviction; you can tell that he really believes in this band which is rather refreshing to see.

Moon King well and truly mystified the crowd with their bamboozling take on dream-pop for every second they were on stage; a particular highlight was their closer and most recent track ‘Roswell’, a sprawling six-minute long jam with heavy cosmic elements. The band clearly enjoyed playing that one, with the stage becoming an arena for constant headbanging.

It’s quite hard to pigeonhole Moon King in a musical sense – they’re dream-pop but their sound seemed to expand far beyond that, with occasional lashings of heavy guitars and trashing drums, but periodic moment where they went for more of a cosmic, ambient sound. They bear a similarity with Alvvays in the sugary sweet, airy vocals but the comparison ended there. Their dynamic approach to music will definitely make for an interesting album, which is said to be released in April and called Secret Life… Keep a keen eye out for that one.