Dear readers, we are pleased to offer you in this article an interview with Jakob Rehlinger, multi-instrumentalist and creator of the Heavy Moon project.
Hi Jakob how are you?
Jakob: “As blessed as anyone can hope to be in 2024.“
What is the meaning of the band name Heavy Moon?
Jakob: “I’d originally recorded and released the first two Heavy Moon albums as my then main musical project BABEL. The name “Heavy Moon” was simply the title track from the first album I recorded of this sort of material and chosen to reflect what I thought was a Floydian vibe. I thought it’d be a one-off thing but a year later I recorded a second space rock album, Return to Heavy Moon (now titled Heavy Moon 2), and I decided I needed a new project name if I was going to continue to pursue this style of psychedelic space rock since BABEL was more of a lo-fi gothic experimental/drone thing. So the short answer is “Heavy Moon” was meant to evoke the psychedelic feeling of Dark Side era Pink Floyd but indicate a heavier, more Hawkwind approach.“
The project incorporates elements of Psychedelia, Kosmische Musik and Space Rock among others, where does your passion for these sounds come from?
Jakob: “You could probably trace it back to when I was seven or eight my dad played me King Crimson’s “21st Century Schizoid Man” and it imprinted on my impressionable young mind as an artistic ideal. Really I’ve been trying to recreate that song for the last twenty albums or so. A few years later my mother bought an album, based purely on the artwork, called Music From The 21st Century which featured Tangerine Dream, Steve Roach, Don Preston and other kosmische synth pioneers. Likewise, that album imprinted in my young mind with a certain type of experimental synthesizer music.“
The new album ‘Astral Highway’ is out in October 2023, how would you describe this new work?
Jakob: “More of the same, but with a new twist. The opening track travels some of the same Hawkwind meets Neu! fuzzed-out motorik roads I’ve been down before, but I’ve added a ‘70s glam shuffle beat! I sometimes describe Heavy Moon as being “regressive rock” as opposed to progressive. I definitely try to keep everything rooted in about 1972, but explore as many different textures and approaches I can within that framework.“
Your music is very addictive and elaborate, will there be a chance to hear it live or is it a studio-only project?
Jakob: “At long last, I’ve pretty much retired from playing live altogether. I’ve always found it—except for the twenty minutes or so you’re actively playing music on stage—a miserable ordeal. As far as playing Heavy Moon music with a combo, which I think would take quite a bit of rehearsal to recreate, I have trouble playing anything more than a few times without being too painfully bored to continue. Heavy Moon could possibly exist as a purely improvised act, but then would it even be Heavy Moon? Possibly. The recordings are all improvised and then edited into cohesive compositions, but I’m not sure it’s what people want when they express an interest in seeing Heavy Moon live, which I’m always grateful to hear.“
You have been leading this band for several years now, how has the sound evolved over time?
Jakob: “I’m not sure the sound has evolved much since the second album in 2007, but it has had a tendency to mutate. One factor is I’ll get a new piece of gear and that inspires a new approach to creating music, for example the orchestra software I utilized on the Astral Blackout album. The other thing that happens is I’ll hear something new, or something I haven’t heard in a while, and I’ll think “Oooh, yes. I want to do something sludgy with a fuzz pedal.” Then, of course, I’ll start recording at the music will end up being something without a fuzz pedal at all. But you can probably listen to a Heavy Moon track and guess if I’d been listening to Klaus Schulze or Guru Guru recently. One thing I do is try to not do the same thing twice, or at least not in the same way twice. Turn things another 15° to the left each time.“
You have released several albums since 2006 with Heavy Moon, which of these works are you most attached to?
Jakob: “Heavy Moon XX really felt like the culmination of everything I’d ever tried to do with the project. I even considered I might just pat myself on the back and put the project to rest completely after that one. But I didn’t and I’m glad because Astral Blackout has some moments I feel I really put my soul into. Even if I get rightly dragged for the opening track “Lunar Boogaloo” accidentally being too on the “Money,” so to speak.“
Music is constantly evolving, how do you see the modern scene?
Jakob: “It’s the same as it’s always been. People make music with the tools they’re provided. For some people that’s still guitar, bass, drums in a garage, for some people that’s plugins in a laptop. And now more than ever people are using these tools to provide every flavour imaginable. What I do find interesting is how artists I’ve never heard of, not even a whisper about on social media, much less through traditional media, and I’m constantly scouring both, will sell out the local stadium. That’s pretty wild to me. That the way music fed to us through algorithms and digital tubes now is so personalized that a band can be objectively huge and you have no idea they exist because you’re being shown this whole other crop of artists.“
What advice would you give to young artists who are approaching music with more sophisticated sounds like yours?
Jakob: “Brand recognition is important. Pick a formula and strictly adhere to it. I have about a dozen musical projects on the go and the only one that’s at all successful is Heavy Moon. I believe that it’s because when someone searches the “space rock” tag and they find Heavy Moon they say, “Yes, that is space rock just like I was looking for.” I want to stress this is just luck on my part, I wasn’t trying to game any algorithms or cynically market a product to an audience. Heavy Moon just happens to very neatly fit into a box. My advice would be to find the box that is authentically you and stay in that box—as creatively as possibly of course.“
Do you have any other activities or artistic passions outside of music?
Jakob: “I’m currently focused on writing a novel. It’s hard science fiction and high fantasy, both genres simultaneously. It’s my main artistic passion right now.“
I thank Jakob for the interview and wish him all the best for the continuation of his artistic career.
Read our Review of the album here: [Review] Heavy Moon – Astral Highway