What happens when two producers — bound by a shared history, yet also significantly parted for fragments of it — rediscover the musical language that first brought them together?
And then further, seal it with a 20-track first album as a two-piece? For Driftmoon’s Juraj Klička, and Miikka Leinonen, who in 2023, rejoined, seven years after his departure, the answer’s ‘Moonstruck’—a record born through (not to put too fine a point on it!), reunion.
Featuring a constellation of talented co-producers (Ruben de Ronde, Richard Durand, Robert Nickson, Hel:Sløwed to mention a few) and vocalists like Sue McLaren Sarah Howells and Susie Ledge, ‘Moonstruck’ is Driftmoon’s most ambitious studio work to date. “Opus” may not be too big a word. Divided into four lunar events, each echoing a stage in the duo’s timeline, they, alongside their creative allies, have delivered the most vivid, and indeed, complete Driftmoon LP to date.
For Juraj and Miikka, ‘Moonstruck’ (meaning, quite literally, to be ‘affected by the moon’) is part progression, part homecoming: “a celebration of everything we’ve lived, learned, lost – but far more importantly re-found”, Juraj observes. “At its artistic core is the creative journey we’ve been on over the last decade. It feels like a reflection of the magic of collaboration, nostalgia, and evolution. Simply, the album features some of the best music Driftmoon have ever written, and we’re proud to present it here.”
Structured around four distinct lunar events and phases (New, Full & Crescent Moon, as well as Eclipse) ‘Moonstruck’ doesn’t just borrow its language from the night sky; it maps Driftmoon’s own cycle of distance and return. New Moon signals the spark of rediscovery, its orbit defined by the recent club-homing singles ‘Earth Song’ and ‘Colour Of Your Eyes’.
Filled with creative clarity and marking the duo’s renewed flow, Full Moon rises, bringing with it new in-studio team-ups with Hel:Sløwed, Asteroid, and singer Sarah Howells. Crescent Moon curves inward, housing the purest distillation of Juraj and Miikka’s studio dialogue, while Eclipse completes the alignment — an end-to-end crossing, bringing Sue McLaren, Susie Ledge, Richard Durand, Robert Nickson, Mirage, and Xijaro & Pitch into its vocal and production frame.
A decade on, ‘Moonstruck’ brings Driftmoon back, near enough, to its origin point — a reunion that bridges past and future, drawn once more by the gravity of their shared sound.
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