After releasing their debut LP Secret Life earlier this year on Last Gang Records and hitting the road with Doldrums and Mr Twin Sister, Moon King have today announced they will set off on tour again this fall with Youth Lagoon. The North American tour will kick off in Salt Lake City and Moon King will make stops in Chicago, NYC, Boston, Philadelphia and more. A full run down of dates can be found below.

Toronto duo Moon King have crafted a raw, rapturous & emotional record documenting their ascent from an airy conceptual project into a powerful live band. Songwriter Daniel Benjamin’s androgynous voice blends in a unique pairing with the sweetness and serenity of his foil, singer/guitarist Maddy Wilde.

In 2013, Moon King, made up of songwriter Daniel Benjamin and singer/guitarist Maddy Wilde, played over 100 shows to support a pair of EPs, Obsession I and II, which were released on Fucked Up’s One Big Silence label in North America and Tough Love in UK/Europe.

Most of the tracks on the album were recorded live off the floor, with little except the vocals added, put to tape by live sound engineer Noah Giffin (Owen Pallett, Austra, Diana). Though only five days of recording were booked, an ice storm prevented them from leaving, resulting in an extra couple of days work. The record was then mixed in New York with Jacob Portrait of Unknown Mortal Orchestra/Blouse.

The album’s production is more nuanced than the wall-of-sound approach of the EPs, stripping back layers of effects to reveal the vocals. Daniel’s lyrics focus on catharsis and the weight of emotional trauma, as well as dealing with the self-doubt that stands in the way of recovery. “It’s impossible / you’ve been run through with fear / love’s a landfill / just another burning spear” and the ultimatum at the climax of “Golden Age” – “all I want is to be wanted” display a kind of honest and tangible fear rarely heard in pop music. Frequent show-opener “Apocalypse” begins with the confession “somehow I feel no release when I’m alone with anyone else / somehow I fall to pieces when I wake up to nothing where you should be” and builds intensity and speed until overflowing in a rush of noise, an oddly structured pop song with no repeating sections.

There is a deep sense of loss, and longing in these songs. Moon King channel desperation and project it outwards, each song carrying with it both a weight and a sense of urgency.

Secret Life Tracklisting

01. Roswell
02. Secret Life
03. Impossible
04. Come Back
05. Hexe
06. Threads
07. Apocalypse
08. Golden Age
09. Medicine

US Tour Dates

10/15: Urban Lounge, Salt Lake*
10/16: Bluebird Theatre, Denver*
10/17: Bottleneck, Lawrence*
10/19: First Ave, Minneapolis*
10/20: Turner Hall, Milwaukee*
10/21: Thalia Hall, Chicago*
10/23: A&R, Columbus*
10/24: Loving Touch, Ferndale*
10/25: Opera House, Toronto*
10/29: Webster Hall, NYC*
10/30: Paradise, Boston*
10/31: Union Transfer, Philadelphia*
11/01: 9:30 Club, DC*
11/03: Cat’s Cradle, Carrboro*
11/04: Terminal West, Atlanta*
11/05: Mercy Lounge, Nashville*
11/06: Proud Larry’s, Oxford*
11/07: One Eyed Jacks, New Orleans*
11/09: Warhouse Studio, Houston*
11/10: Club Dada, Dallas*
11/11: Mohawk, Austin*
11/13: Crescent Ballroom, Phoenix*

* w/ Youth Lagoon