London four-piece The Big Moon formed in the way that any great band should. “I didn’t just want to start a band, I really, genuinely needed to,” says singer Juliette Jackson. “I was working in a fancy cocktail bar in North London where they made stupid drinks flavored with soil and tomato skins. I had to get out of there. So I started writing songs about love and hangovers, robots and the fourth dimension, ran around London asking everyone I knew if they knew anyone who wanted to be in a band with me.”
Word soon got round and, via a network of friends of friends, Jules began to find some like-minded spirits. “I'd blind-date people in a pub in Islington and suss them out,” she says. Drummer Fern Ford (and organist, she plays the two instruments simultaneously) – who at the time had a series of jobs “serving food out of trucks” – was the first to join, and guitarist Soph Nathan, who was studying in Brighton, was next. “Celia [Archer] joined last,” says Juliette. “It was just us three for a while and then one afternoon she came to our practice room. I answered the door and immediately said, ‘I love you’”. She joined us the next day.
“The first time we all played properly together, I actually had a little cry,” laughs Juliette. “We barely knew each other, but it just instantly made sense. I'd always had a four-piece band in mind and now these songs suddenly sounded so huge. I wanted us to sound like a garage rock band, but with hooks. It’s what I’ve always listened to – White Stripes, Pixies, Kid Congo Powers, but also a lot of really gorgeous melodic stuff like Elvis and Roy Orbison and The Kinks. Stuff that sounds scuzzy, but that you can still sing along to.”
The first track they shared with the world in January 2015 was "Eureka Moment" – a tangle of twisted rhythms and lush harmonies that scuttles through the corners of the mind. It was picked up by blogs immediately. “We put it online, and people actually listened to it,” says Celia. “And then we started getting loads of emails from people. We got shows. It was crazy..” They’ve since played a 12-month run of gigs alongside bands including The Vaccines, The Maccabees, Mac Demarco, and Ezra Furman.
“Playing to young girls feels so good,” laments Juliette. “We’ve supported a lot of big indie boy bands who have a lot of female fans and it’s great to go on stage and by being there, showing them that they can do it as well. People have come up to us after shows and said, ‘We want to start a band now!’. That’s great because we were those kids once too.”
Working with long-standing producer Catherine Marks on their scintillating debut album, Love In The 4th Dimension (released April 7 on Fiction Records), The Big Moon have made a joyful record that bursts with energy, confidence and a reticent self-belief. The almost laissez-faire delivery of Jules’ vocal is blasted in on a rocket of hooks and melodies. It’s smart, assured, and primed for the big stage.
“I don't really think of an album as a thing that has to be listened to all at once. I’m a big believer in songs by themselves. I want every song to be a journey in itself rather than it having to rely on the thing before or after it,” says Juliette. “So we want to make sure every single song on the album is the best possible version of the song that could ever exist. I don't want to feel like anything on the album could be improved upon.” For the moment, though, they just want their music to reach as many people as possible. “I can’t wait for people to hear all the songs and to get to know every lyric and every intricacy,” says Celia.
Ask them what their plans are for the future and they all scream “World domination!” before cracking up at the idea. But with their determination and drive, it feels like nothing is out of the grasps of The Big Moon.
