Though many of the Florida's struggling artists lament the difficulty of gaining national traction from the southernmost state, Pompano Beach's Postmarks and its lush, cinematic pop enjoyed quite a bit of success a few years back.
The Postmarks even managed to pique the interest of America's most widely read music periodicals, earning positive reviews in Rolling Stone and Spin. Soon, the group was making cameos on major stages all around the world, including a performance at the 2007 edition of Lollapalooza and an appearance on Yo Gabba Gabba! to sing about balloons.
Christopher Moll was the mastermind behind the Postmarks' sound. And while that band is currently on an indefinite hiatus, he has returned with the Lovers Key.
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It is a project, conducted in collaboration with vocalist Maco Monthervil, that lives comfortably between the sensibilities of London and Detroit circa '65 while still purveying a sound as fresh and new as it is nostalgic.
Moll and company will officially introduce the band's debut full-length effort, Here Today Gone Tomorrow, at Gramps in Wynwood this week. So we here at Crossfade took the time to speak with the songwriter and producer about his new project and the album that we think is one of the best things to come out of South Florida in years.
Crossfade: How did the Lovers Key come to be?
Christopher Moll: When we were going through the last Postmarks tour in Europe, I had a lot of stuff going through my head, and one of the things I was noticing during our sets was what type of songs people were reacting to. They might have been the ones that were a little more on the upbeat or dance-y side. I kind of had these images rolling through my mind of the dance lines that they had on American Bandstand and Soul Train, where the seas parted and the single or couple would've gone down the dance line while the entourage was clapping along on the two and four.
So, it was that. And with the Postmarks, the last album we did, Memoirs at the End of the World, was so orchestral that I felt like I had kind of taken that as far as I could and I guess with every expansion there has to be a contraction. I had in my mind that I wanted to come back to something that was maybe a little more simple and raw.
How did you and Maco meet?
I had started to look around to find a new sparring partner to work with and I had an ad on Craigslist and Maco had answered. His plea to me was like, "Look, we seem to have a lot of the same musical influences going on and I'm usually kind of let down by reaching out to musicians down here and never hearing a reply -- at least write back to me," because I don't think most people would actually take the time to do that.
I did and we got together the next night, just to meet socially. Shortly thereafter, we got together to start writing and "Who's the One You Love" and "Bright Eyes, Black Soul" came out right away!
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