Alt folk band Moxie releases single ‘The Place Above’ on 30th July 2021, the second single to be taken from their upcoming album ‘The Dawn of Motion’, released on 3rd September. In ‘The Place Above’ the band’s French singer Julia Spanu explores her relationship with her adopted country, Ireland.
‘The Place Above’ creatively embodies the fundamentals of pop music. Fused with Moxie’s traditional signature sound, the song is a celebration of contemporary songwriting and past heritage. Funky electric guitars and clever instrumentation allows accordions to soar above colourful electronic modulations. The song gathers hooks to make you sing and beats to make you dance. Spirited vocals and intrepid lyrics are working in harmony to inspire the excitement of dance music.
‘The Place Above’ conveys the thrill of going on an adventure without knowing where it will take you.
Moxie began its journey in 2011, when founding members Darren Roche (accordion), Jos Kelly (accordion, keyboards), Cillian Doheny (banjo, guitar) and Ted Kelly (banjo, tenor guitars) met in Miltown Malbay at popular traditional festival, The Will Clancy Summer School. They released their debut album ‘Planted’ in 2014 which Trad Connect reviewed as ‘a thought provoking and modern album that is high on creativity’. Josh Sampson (drums) joined the band in 2017, with the last and most recent member being Julia Spanu, a French vocalist/songwriter with Vietnamese and Italian roots.
Moxie has travelled the world including a state visit to Vietnam, folk festivals in Scotland, the US, and Australia, and tours in Europe and Canada. At home, they have played festivals including Body & Soul, and Electric Picnic, and were invited by President Michael D. Higgins’s to entertain German president Joachim Gauck in Áras an Uachtaráin in 2015. The Irish Times have described the band as having “irresistible revolutionary energy”, and The Irish Examiner said that, “Moxie is the music of a new era, where fluidity, cross-pollination, and innovation are the future and salvation of Irish music.”
In 2019 Moxie spent the latter months holed up in the wilds of Tipperary writing their new album. In January of 2020 Moxie started recording ‘The Dawn Of Motion‘ at Camden Studios in Dublin. The band chose Alex Borwick (Ellie Goulding, George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic, Jack L) as the chief engineer on the project, it was produced by Jake Birch (Carly Rae Jepsen, Theo Katzman), and Jean Christophe Morel wrote and performed strings.
Moxie’s roots are in traditional Irish music, but they are reimagining it for a new era. Julia’s pop oriented writing style gave the band a chance to expand their musical horizon and craft a new sound. They work with modern music production tools and technology to explore how far the boundaries of traditional Irish music can be pushed in creative and imaginative ways.
Moxie’s signature sound epitomises Irish tradition in the 21st century.
See MOXIE play live:
Sat. 31 July The Ballykeeffe Amphitheatre, Kilmanagh, Kilkenny Tickets:
Fri. 6 August Fleadh Fest, Sligo Tickets
Fri. 3 Sept Doolin Hotel, ClareTickets
Sat. 4 Sept Claremorris Folk Festival, Mayo https://claremorrisfolkfestival.com/
