Black Moon Circle Announce A Million Leagues Beyond: Moskus Sessions Vol. I Session LP Out May 16
Those of you playing along at home with your The Obelisk Brand™ Calendar of Such and Sundry will want to take out your secret-code invisible ink pen and keep an eye for more to come, because I’m trying to line up a stream ahead of the May 16 release date of Black Moon Circle‘s A Million Leagues Beyond – Moskus Sessions: Vol. 1 studio session. Whether or not that comes together — I’m always hopeful, but sometimes there’s a plan already unfolding — the captured-live outing is the first release from the Trondheim, Norway-based outfit since 2023’s Leave the Ghost Behind (review here), which was a righteously cut gem of cosmic origin. Three of the four tracks that feature on A Million Leagues Beyond, for example, come from that record. So yes, relevant.
I asked bassist/vocalist Øyvin Engan for some background on the release, and he was kind enough to offer a bit of insight, which you’ll find below, along with the release info that I assume will be on the Bandcamp page when preorders go up. All follows the cover art:
BLACK MOON CIRCLE – A Million Leagues Beyond
A Million Leagues Beyond will be out May 16th and as always it will be released on vinyl by Torgeir and Crispin Glover Records. In addition the record will also be out on digital platforms, and finally, it will be printed on CD which will be sold through Bandcamp.
Usually I wouldn’t say anything about the music, but this will be an exception. The record is not an effort to make a documentation of that night at Moskus. Sure, the songs were played that night, but not in this order and many were left out for this release. So this is not a classic ‘Live at…’ record, like Thin Lizzy in Live & Dangerous, Steve Ray Vaughan in Live at El Mocambo, etc. So what is it?
Moskus is a small bar located in Trondheim that hosts about 70 concerts every year, in genres as diverse as jazz, country, americana, rock, progressive jazz and occasionally psychedelic hard rock. You can cram 80 people into the venue, with their backs against the wall — which, by the way, is covered with vinyl records — the audience faces the stage which barely has room for drums and a couple of amplifiers. Obviously, when the band is done playing, the staff lower the needle into the groove, and music pours out from the speakers. It is ‘vinyl-only’ at Moskus.
This session was recorded in front of an enthusiastic crowd, on the 18th November 2023, by Åsmund Arnesson Rise. The album was mixed in Nautilus Studio by Øyvin Engan, and mastered by Helge Sten at Audio Virus Lab. The rattle-can stencil art, ‘Cosmic Divah’, was painted by Paul, and photographed by Thor Egil Leirtrø. The cover art was designed by Håvard Gjelseth. This release is supported by Trondheim Kommune. Tomas expresses his gratitude for the support from Frank Jacobs at Pearl Drums Europe, Jarle Johansen at CRS and Vidar Kolberg at 4Sound Trondheim. We say: Thank you Torgeir Lund (Crispin Glover Records) for releasing the music, and providing help in every possible way. Thank you Magnus Lykkelig and Tor Schølberg for your continuous support of live music. It is never taken for granted.
Tracklisting:
01. Drifting Across the Plains
02. Snake Oil
03. Serpent
04. Psychedelic Spacelord (Lighter Than Air)
Black Moon Circle:
Øyvin Engan: vocals bass
Vemund Engan: guitar, backing vocals
Tomas Järmyr: drums
Dr. Space: synth
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