âI LIKE TO THINK of albums as photographs, because visual representation and recording goes hand in hand with audio,â says Two Moonsâ Aaron Liu. âWhat Iâm saying isnât science, per se. I donât want to sound like a stoner or anything like that, but sound is about frequencies and the speed at which you arrange your composition in a specific moment. To me, that resonates with using a camera to preserve an image, while still arranging the colors and such in that moment in time.â
The vocalist/guitaristâs own photos have appeared in the zine Semi-OK, and Two Moonsâ new EP, Strings, maintains this visual sensibility in musical terms. Liuâs songs inhabit moments of darkness like a light flickering between alienation and connection.
I meet the Portland trio outside the Avalon Theater and Wunderland arcade on SE Belmont on an evening when a windy downpour has begun to turn the record snowfall into slush, but the sidewalks are still caked with a slick layer of ice. Already waiting in the lobby is bass player Mike Bonham; heâs soon joined by Liu and drummer Andrew Massett, whose arm hangs in a sling after he slipped on the ice a few weeks prior. We decide to head to the Triple Nickel, and sit on the patio while a band covers âSay It Ainât Soâ inside. I ask Liu if heâs ever been in a cover band, âNo, but I kind of wish I was,â he says.
Although Liu, Massett, and Bonham met each other in elementary school in Tigard, musically the members of Two Moons come from different worlds. Liu has always been drawn to the intricate pop compositions of Brian Wilson and Paul Simon, while Bonham played electric jazz bass growing up, and Massett drummed in the disbanded Portland post-rock/screamo group Caregiver. Sonically, the group seems grounded in their appreciation of the dense, moody pop-rock of Alex G and Capân Jazz. It wasnât until late in high school that they started to create together, when Massett and Liu shared a film class making two, as Massett puts it, âawesomely bad short films together,â both of which Liu added some of his own early original music to.
âI was really excited because it was my first exposure to Aaronâs music,â Massett says. âActually, my very first exposure was at an eighth grade talent show,â he continues over Liuâs lighthearted pleads to stop. âHe played in the orchestra room for the entire eighth-grade class. I was super impressed with the musicianship. I donât think heâd quite found his voice yet.â
Liu quietly released his bedroom recordings on Bandcamp under the Two Moons moniker, and in 2015 he debuted a wistfully tender lo-fi pop EP called 1087, followed by 2016âs 1087 Outtakes; each produced a song (âAt the Midnight Hourâ and âMy Friend Mariaâ) that was later reworked collaboratively on Strings. The 1087 EPs showcased Liuâs unique voice, a near-whisper paired with virtuosic piano and guitar melodies that invite the listener in closer just to try and catch everything.
While a group effort, Strings builds on this sense of solitude and longing rather than shedding the identity entirely. The first song, âBeing Here,â begins with beautiful acoustic classical guitar before finding the loud rock core of the song and spacing back out to another acoustic interlude. Itâs a moment that shows Liuâs range, feeling the full energetic thrust of being present with his friends and bandmates, then slipping right back into his dreamy mind.
We decide to walk down Belmont to a pizzeria where a friend works. Liu walks nervously ahead of the pack, but turns around quickly. âI know Mike didnât talk that much back there, but he does so much for us as a group,â he says. âWe played a show last New Yearâs and we had to wait outside while it was freezing cold and he got us all hand warmers. Heâs that kind of friend.â
Liu and Bonham exchange a smile, and Bonham says, âThatâs what a bass playerâs for: keeping things together.â
Two Moonsâ Strings EP comes out Feb 3 on Good Cheer Records.