Wednesday, June 19, 2019

Moi Caprice - 'Maureen'

"I never really want to see you when the Sun is shining..."

After some ten years away Danish indie-rockers Moi Caprice have returned with a new single, an homage to a doomed character in Sergio Leone's classic Spaghetti Western Once Upon A Time In The West. Unlike Leone's epic, a gorgeous sprawling tale of greed, honour and revenge in the old west, Maureen is five minutes of tight synth, programmed percussion and breathy vocals. This ode to Maureen McBain, whose family's fate acts as a catalyst for an equally bloody chain of events, might not seem a likely topic for a song but Moi Caprice have previous form in taking inspiration from the big screen; the name of their debut album was also inspired by Leone's 1968 epic and their last long player, 2008's We Had Faces Then, both took its title from Sunset Boulevard and included a song paying tribute to Claudia Cardinale.

As a taster for the band's forthcoming fifth album Maureen bodes very well indeed, although we'll have to wait until the Autumn (at least) to hear what other magic the reformed line-up of Michael Møller, Casper Henning Hansen and David Brunsgaard, now joined by touring guitarist Jakob Funch and Fridolin Nordsø on bass (replacing Jakob Millung), have wrought in the studio.




The band haven't exactly been idle in the saddle in the intervening years, individually they've busied themselves as touring musicians or have embarked on solo projects, the most notable of which is Michael Møller's A Month of Unrequited Love. This  daily release of love songs grew into a 31 track LP, Denmark's first crowd-funded vinyl release.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a fan of the band (I'd have to check Last.FM to find out just how many times I've listened to The Art of Kissing Properly, it's definitely in high double-figures though), I am therefore understandably chuffed that they're back in action. And if you're wondering what the relevance of the harmonica at the end of the music video is then, well, you'll just have to watch the film

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