STEVE MOORE-ANALOG ACTIVITY.

dereksmusicblog ♦ February 23, 2021 ♦ Leave a comment

Steve Moore-Analog Activity.

Label: Be With Records.

Format: LP.

Prolific is the perfect word to describe New York-based multi-instrumentalist, producer, remixer and film composer Steve Moore. He’s best known as one half of Zombi the duo that he formed with Anthony Paterra. However, that is just part of the Steve Moore story.

He’s also part of Brooklyn-based progressive rock group Titan, and has previously worked with an eclectic selection of artists including Ghost, Goblin, Lair Of The Minotaur, Maserati, Microwaves, Municipal Waste, Panthers, Red Sparowes and Sally Shapiro. These are just a few of the bands Steve  Moore has worked with and he’s equally at home working on psychedelia, progressive rock, punk, post rock or even crossover thrash. Versatility seems to be his middle name.

Steve Moore has also enjoyed a successful career as a remixer and has remixed Lower Dens, The Melvins, Voivod and Washed Out. Then there’s his solo career. 

This includes the music he’s released using various monikers including Gianni Rossi and his dance-pop alter-ego Lovelock. Steve Moore has also written the scores to a number of  films, most of which are low budget horror films like The Guest and Cub. Then there’s the ten solo albums he’s released between 2007 and 2020.

Recently, ten albums became eleven when Analog Activity was released by Be With Records. It’s an album where the bassist and synth maestro joins forces with KPM on a carefully crafted album of modern library music. 

The story behind Analog Activity began when Steve Moore had some downtime between the recording of the scores to The Guest and Cub. He decided to use the free time to record some new music. Soon, whenever he some free time he headed to his collection of synths and began working on new music. This continued for three years. During that period, Steve Moore never thought about what he would do with the music or even if he would release it. He was happy making new music. 

Then he was invited by Jon Tye to play on his Ocean Moon project for KPM. That was when Steve Moore realised that the legendary library label was the perfect home for music he had been recording.

When he let executives at KPM hear the music that he had been recording they agreed. Now all Steve Moore had to do was finish the album.

Steve Moore finishing production at his studio in Albany, New York, late 2019 in Albany, All he that was left was to sequence the album which became Analog Sensitivity.     

On the ‘8th’ of July 2020 KPM added Analog Sensitivity to their vast and illustrious library. This was the second album of library music that Steve Moore had recorded for KPM. The first was Crystal Harmonies. It was followed by Analog Sensitivity. 

Side One.

Side one of Analog Sensitivity opens with Eldberg which is a dark, moody and cinematic soundscape where there’s a sense foreboding despite the shimmering synth  arpeggios. At The Edge Of Perception has a wistful sound before referencing Kraftwerk and adding futuristic and sci-fi sounds and before the track takes on an uneasy and unsettling sound.

Rose Of Charon has a slow, spacey cinematic sound that conjures up images of the Apollo space mission. Time Freeze is a slow cinematic synthscape that glides along its mesmeric and dreamy sound gradually revealing its secrets.

Seesaw synths open Analog Sensitivity is also mesmeric, sometimes haunting, wistful and beautiful. It’s music to  ease the weary soul and which will make the world a better place.

Very different is Behind The Waterfall which has a dark filmic sound that paints pictures of a bleak, barren landscape in a world where something terrible has gone wrong. 

Side Two.

Mirror Fountain has a similar sound to Behind The Waterfall and reveals a haunting atmospheric and eerie sound. Bubbling synths combine with drones, wispy pads and an effects-laden ambient guitar on Syzgy. It’s quite different from previous tracks but is tinged with drama and has a cinematic sound. So does Pentagram Of Venus which is understated, spacey and has a haunting, windswept sound.

Of Dust Thou Art plods along and a dark, disturbing and eerie soundscape takes shape. Straight away, Message From The Beast has an unsettling sound that sounds as if it belongs on the score to a horror movie. Bursts of sci-fi sounds are fired across the dark, hypnotic and sometimes elegiac soundscape. Closing side two is the Urge Surfing which is best described as broody, moody and atmospheric.

Although the golden age of library music was between the late-sixties and mid-eighties there’s still artists recording and releasing albums of modern library music. This includes Steve Moore who  recorded Analog Activity during downtime in between recording film scores. he had no idea what to do with the music he was recording and it’s an accidental album of library music. It was only while recording the Ocean Moon album Crystal Harmonies for KPM that he found a home for the album he had been working on.

In the summer of 2020, Analog Activity became part of KPM’s vast, illustrious and legendary music library. Recently, Be With Records released Steve Moore’s first album of library music Analog Activity on vinyl. It’s one of the finest albums of modern library music released during the last few years and hopefully Steve Moore will go on to record more music for KPM in the future.

Steve Moore-Analog Activity.