Luna Amara...I could write pages and pages about them. Yes, I really could if I'd try. Where should I start? In English their name means Bitter Moon. This part should have been the short introduction. I think it is. The name suits them.
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About the music...it's a wonderful mix of beautiful lyrics, professional instrumentals..and a trumpet. Yes, a trumpet.No they're not ska; no one knows EXACTLY what they are. But definately not ska. But they still have a trumpet. It's considered their label. It's hard to describe the effect of it interrupting a song which is magical as is..it like, takes you to another world. The song takes you to the hallway and the trumpet opens the door. It's a pit that due to the fact there's this annoying standard song length they had to cut off the first 30 seconds or so from "Ego no. 4" in their latest video. It starts with those strong riffs. If you listen to the album, or to them live, it starts with a trumpet solo plus a few light guitar stings...you get the impression of one of those songs on which you close your eyes and say "take me to your dream world"....then the riffs come in. Undescribable, their impact. When you're ready to start dreaming, BANG! You suddenly feel the need to jump around. If you stay and listen to their CD, "Asfalt" (yes, Ms.Cheap actually bought a CD), you'd notice that every track is different. Why? Well, I think the description under the bass player's name explains it: "we're all so different". Lyrics are written by Mihnea or Nick. Both vocalists, both guitarists, plus Mihnea's trumpet. Mihnea's are one based on political issues, and the ones which are "harder", as they say. Nick's are the ones you can interpret as you like. Now, two are exceptions: Tangra Noise, which is done by both Mihnea and Nick (masterpiece), and "Ciudat" (weird). When you listen to Ciudat, you'd expect it to be written by Nick. But it's not. If you're not careful, the beginning also sounds like it's sang by Nick. But it's not. Why the difference?I have no idea. I think I'll ask them. Now, they're actually famous for certain songs whome we may thank for the fact that they're always going to be underground. "Folclor" is one of them. In the album version, it sounds like a rock-ish manea. it goes like "I'm a masochist/I live in Romania/I don't know how I can last/in all this madness". At the end, they're asking us who we voted for. They actually did that live on public TV at a festival. They got banned at many places for that song. Especially cause live they add some lyrics in the middle (Do you really wanna know? Of course you do, but I think I'm going to let your curiosity kill you). |
Ah yes, live. That's a different story. Everyone admires howthey play live. The atmosphere, the coordination, the way it doesn't sound like on the album, but even better.From the pogo on Ego no.4 and Dizident to the trance certain ballads cast upon us...from the unreleased songs to the covers...it's all done in a way most bands would look at and die of envy.
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Now about the band itself...It started off about 5 years and a few days/week ago as Tanagra Noise. Then they decided the name was too hard to remember so they named it Luna Amara. They're not from Bucharest either. What is it with Bucharest? Anyway..they got an awesome album called "Asfalt". That means Pavement. it's got 15 tracks. You press the play button on Gri Dorian...and then suddenly you hear the end of Ciudat and say "what? That's it?" and play it again. The album knows the "next" button not. The band forgot how an empty club looks like. Proof?Last week, they played in Cluj. Many concerts by famous pop/dance/manele whatever bands/singers have been cancelled due to lack of people buying tickets. Luna Amara got over 500. I'll let you draw the conclusion. Mihnea: "Naturally, we're happy that famous pop singers got their show cancelled and we got a fullhouse. The fact that it was an anniversary probably made the difference but still, that means something changed here and perhaps rock does have a say in romanian music." I think you had enough of my review. Let's move on to the interview... |
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Virus:For those who didn't get a chance to listen to Luna Amara, how could you define your music?
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Luna Amara presents a..fusion. I don't think you can find a name for its genre. It has elements of all types: grunge, punk, metal and so on. And about its message..it has everything one can feel, everything worth mentioning. From love to hope to disappointment. Virus:Why was Ciudat different from all your other songs? We want to be complete artists, feel everything. Just cause I usually sing songs like "Folclor" and Nick likes songs like "Rosu Aprins" doesn't mean we can write on each other's style. if you're to listen to our new, unreleased songs you'd notice we try to get the songs to keep a message but to be a bit softer. Virus:As I said earlier, one of the band's labels is the trumpet. How'd you think of it? Well, first it wasmore of a "hey, let's see how it turns out" thing, so we tried to add it.First it was weird, but then it came out ok. I noticed it you combine the trumpet with electric guitars and drums you get the softer part of it. It makes it special and the important part is that it's not just an instrument to fill out missing parts as a detail, but it's one of the main parts in every song. Virus:Why did you pick "Ego no.4" for the video? We didn't pick it. We were surprised because we were expecting them to pick a ballad or something, we were actually thinking of making one for "Rosu Aprins". And then they said "We like this one". |
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Virus:What songs are special to you or you think represent Luna Amara? Well, "Asfalt", "Stare de Gratie", "Ciudat", "Folclor", "Luni De Fiere" and "Loc Lipsa". Virus:Why did you choose Pheonix's "Strunga" as the song to end every concert? |
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For me, Pheonix is the only real mainstream rock band in Romania, attitude and music. They are special not only as musicicans but also as persons.
Virus:When can we expect a new album
Next year, I'm not sure when, but it's next year