PRICE:
$15.50
IN STOCK
ARTIST
TITLE
MORE D4TA
FORMAT
CD

LABEL
CATALOG #
MONKEY 122CD MONKEY 122CD
GENRE
RELEASE DATE
5/13/2022

For bands, a "hiatus" is usually just a polite way of announcing a break-up, but sometimes, a hiatus is just that -- a hiatus. Back in 2017, when Moderat announced that they'd be taking an extended break following a final concert in their hometown of Berlin, many assumed that the group was basically calling it quits. After all, they'd already completed a celebrated trilogy of albums, repeatedly broken into the pop charts and performed all around the globe (including Mainstage sets at some of the world's biggest festivals including Coachella, Roskilde, Rock Werchter, Glastonbury, Primavera, Sónar. and many many more) -- what else was left for the German trio to accomplish? Moderat, however, always knew that they'd find their way back to one another. MORE D4TA, the group's fourth album, arrives more than six years after its predecessor (2016's III), yet its contents are quintessentially Moderat. Although the trio's hiatus was absolutely real -- exhausted after years of touring, Apparat (aka Sascha Ring) and Modeselektor (aka Gernot Bronsert and Sebastian Szary) spent two years away from one another, focusing instead on their own respective projects -- once they decided to resume working together, the music (eventually) started flowing again. It wasn't an easy process. It's never been easy for Moderat, an outfit who tellingly titled their debut EP Auf Kosten Der Gesundheit (translation: At the Cost of Health) and then needed seven years to put together a follow-up. Back in those days, the group's members were essentially remixing each other, but over time, they've gradually developed into a proper band, writing together and developing a workflow that's totally distinct from their other projects. (In a band where all three members are artists, producers and mixing engineers, striking that sort of creative balance is trickier than it might seem.) Created largely during a time when touring (and most traveling) was off the table, MORE D4TA is an album that wrestles with feelings of isolation and information overload -- issues that have become particularly pronounced. Many of its lyrics are rooted in Ring's frequent trips to Berlin's Gemäldegalerie museum (often with his infant daughter in tow), where he'd seek refuge in the great paintings of the past while worrying about the future.