Originally written as a deeply personal message to Felix’s sister Victoria as she persevered through years of setbacks to reach a major life milestone, the song’s core message has blossomed into a universal anthem. It speaks to anyone who has been doubted, held back, or made to feel that their dreams were unrealistic, capturing the courage it takes to keep moving forward despite uncertainty.

Drawing sonic and emotional inspiration from powerhouse singer-songwriters such as James Arthur, Lewis Capaldi, Tom Walker, and Passenger, “On My Way” follows a striking dynamic arc. Starting with restrained, vulnerable verses, the arrangement gradually builds in intensity and emotional strength, mirroring the psychological shift from doubt to confidence.

The production emphasizes authentic human performance over polished perfection, anchored by recurring guitar and saxophone motifs that reflect the personal instrumental backgrounds of mother and son.

⇒ Check out our thoughts for the track here.

Recorded at Neptune Studio in Hamburg, Germany, the sessions marked a significant milestone for Felix, who balances his burgeoning musical talent with his primary focus on engineering studies. Working together in a relaxed yet focused environment, Felix quickly translated the song’s emotional landscape into a moving vocal take in just about an hour. The resulting collaboration highlights a rare organic synergy, blending a profound family story with a rich, growing pop-rock soundscape.

Beginning intimately before opening into a large, cathartic chorus, the track moves between vulnerability and release. Sonically, it may appeal to listeners of artists such as KALEO, Hozier and Highly Suspect, while retaining a deliberately raw and personal character.

“Ghosts at 3 AM” was born from a period of profound personal loss and pain. Rather than presenting grief as something that eventually disappears, the song explores what happens when life moves forward while the person you lost remains part of it — in memories, regrets and those sleepless hours when everything comes back.

⇒ Read our review for “Ghosts at 3 AM” here.

That connection followed the song into the recording process itself. Most of the track was recorded in Michael’s studio in Bavaria. Just a few metres from where the vocals were recorded rests his mother’s ashes.

“I was recording a song about being haunted by someone you’ve lost while my mother’s ashes were literally three metres away from me. There’s this little shrine of memories beside me — her perfume, jewellery, photographs, seashells, teeth and, of course, her ashes. At some point, ‘Ghosts at 3 AM’ stopped feeling like a metaphor.”

“The year after she died, I tattooed myself like a berserker. I even considered having a tiny amount of her ashes incorporated into the ink. I was in an incredible amount of pain and so much guilt. Then I entered this strange period of nostalgia — just remembering and writing. It became almost like a workout, like therapy. Looking back, the creative process was intense, but the song became a beautiful way of honouring someone I really, really love and miss — even if I couldn’t always show her how much she meant to me.”

The verses carry that intimacy before the song breaks into its central plea:

“Cut me free from the chains of yesterday / Free me from the ghosts at 3 AM.”

Yet the song is not ultimately about forgetting. Its central idea is almost the opposite: moving forward does not have to mean leaving someone behind.

• “The Escape Plan Handbook” was built around the idea of a vanishing America — the 60s and 70s freedom of being truly unreachable, of cheap rent, open roads, and no way to track you down. When did you first feel the loss of that world personally, and what made it the right obsession to build an entire album around?

Yes, I  was trying to capture what it was like in the 60’s and 70’s in America.  According to some economists and historians, the year that America had the highest standard of living was 1969. The exact year can  be debated but this is as close as many come.  If we look at the 10 years prior to that and the ten after we get a rough idea of a certain lifestyle for many. I am sorry to offend people of color and minorities and the very poor who were always dealt a difficult and much different version of America. This thinking is a means to understand the overall general population at that time.  It was a time when rents were so cheap and minimum wage was so great that it scared the daylights out of conservative politics – because too many people had too much time on their hands and stood up and yelled and caused a ruckus when the government did things that were against the decency of humanity such as the Vietnam War. This freedom and lifestyle had to stop because  it allowed for a lot of Artists to thrive as a result of this  very high standard of living. The minimum wage was $1.60  an hour.  A worker in a factory such as General Motors made $4.00 an hour.   $4.00 in 1969 money is equivalent to $37.00 today. That’s for a person working a factory floor. So, for example The Grateful Dead rented an entire Victorian house in, it’s safe to say,  a nice street in a really cool city for $250 a month. It had 4 floors, God knows how many bedrooms,   so with 5 people sleeping there and each paying  $50 a month,  the rent was  covered.  That means one person had to work A DAY AND A HALF in a factory to cover their rent FOR THE MONTH.  Gas was 30 cents a gallon, a hamburger, fries and milkshake at a dinner in 1969 was between 85 cents and $1. So one had to work a half an a hour to get a full meal at a diner if they were making the very minimum wage of $1.60.   McDonalds Burger was 15 cents in 1969.  A  50 cent hamburger has the same purchasing power of a $4.25 hamburger today. Imagine buying a Hamburger for $4.25 today? We’re fucked.    My point is people had freedom, freedom to live as they decided. For so many it was easy.   Life was wide open. And what does that mean? For one,  the arts thrived.  Peoples minds weren’t trapped  in a hellscape of working. People didn’t even think about the cost of rent as they must today. People soared and roared and created shit. Those picture of the 60’s and 70’s are real.  We could talk about this for hours. We could talk about why and how this ended as well. Was it purposely ended by governmental policies? They certainly  don’t want a free society  who has the wherewithal to rise up every time  they entered a war  or commit any other indecent act and have to deal with street revolts  by the people etc. I don’t want to get into politics any more here but look into the changes that took place in 1980 and where they lead to and  see who was behind them…and vote accordingly.

• You’ve described writing these songs from two perspectives — being IN that world and looking AT it from the outside. How did those two vantage points produce different kinds of songs, and can you point to specific tracks on the album that live in each of those spaces?

Sometimes both perspectives meld into one song as well.  The bird’s eye view makes a landing at the camp sight.  It’s like a cloak I carry around with both perspectives always on the lookout and inevitably it ends up in a song or in this case many songs.  I’ll find myself in certain situations with unabashed freedom,  surrounded by the coolest freaks and think, yeah this is it,  this was how it must have been in the late 60’s but they had it 24/7  or 24/6  This will write a song like We Applaud All The Freaks- a direct result of getting together with a bunch of great people and walking around the city with the same playlist in all of our headphones,  tripping over ourselves . I thought man, look at all these beautiful freaks…and then I’ll get back to the reality of today where people don’t have the time to listen to ONE song let alone sit around a turntable with their friends to check out a new album, the entire thing…just sitting there listening  because that was a great thing to do and we’d freak out doing it. Nostalgia is a strange thing when things have gotten worse. This devestating reality will write a song like What’s Your Message because it’s asking what are you going to leave everyone with this new lifestyle?  What are you doing now that we will remember you by, that is so important it will  be written in stone later on? I was imagining this scenario sitting in a kitchen at someones house in 2026, the modern frenetic nothing and comparing that to what went on in The Grateful Dead’s house in 67, or any other house on that block.

• The recording philosophy here was clear from the start: keep it dirty and real, all analog, tube amps, wild early 70s synths. In an era of infinite digital polish and endless plugin options, what does committing to that analog approach actually demand of you as a producer — and what does it give the music that nothing else can?

Analog helps shape the Spirit of the songs because analog instruments have their own Spirit.  It’s like having another great player with you. If  a keyboard player is playing it on an old synth, that synth is bringing its’ added Spirit with it. Each player brings their  signature to a performance and that signature can be so deep it transcends the simplicity of the part  and so does analog gear, it has it’s own signature.   There’s also the scientific element that digital recording does not  think the distortion  is important enough for converters to capture.  It doesn’t capture all the harmonics of the wave,  just bits of it. It transfers the fundamental tone and not the distorted outer waves of the tone (also something one might not ‘hear’) but all those lost distorted tones of that wave creates a body, a depth, a mystery. This is evident when you put on vinyl from the 70’s.  They have a Spirit, almost as if the tape machines that recorded those songs also recorded the essence of the Earth itself. The magnetic tape absorbed the ghosts that were present  and it got  sucked  onto the tape. This takes a conscious listen and a very awake listener to hear of course. As a producer there’s no compromising for me.   In the studio every instrument was played by a person, there are no programmed parts played out by computer.  Do listeners know this? Maybe. Maybe  there’s a  deeper part of knowing that is not conscious.  But it’s an honoring of the past and what made me love music…honor the drummer and use a drummer, honor the Hammond B-3 and use a real one,  honor the amps and microphones and use the real ones. Why? Because Hendrix,  Marley, Morrison, Lennon , they’re all listening.  Don’t let them down. They played for real. Their magnificent souls went into this thing called music. Ring their bells.  A small part of me was reacting against AI generated music  as well – which is as vile as eating vomit.  So I was keeping in elements of humanity during the recording, even in small degrees and details,  like the scraping of fingers on the strings between chords that in times past a producer would have stopped, or the slight squeal of the guitar amp before or after the chord is hit for example. That’s one aspect of keeping it dirty, but mostly it’s the sounds themselves that deliver the dirt.  Keeping it dirty and real is a way to combat AI.  We also  have to get weird. So weird and honest that it sounds unlike anything AI could conjure.  Not for weirdness’ sake but for the sake of digging deeper and bring forth our uniquenesses,  our souls, our take on our time here as only we can say it and  without an ounce of compromise. Ai does not and will never have a soul so we’ve got to bring forth ours.

• Your story includes recording an entire album in the Massachusetts mountains using only modified analog effects and 40 overdubbed guitars — music that was never released — and then losing a full studio to fire before your debut. Most people would have walked away. What kept you going through that, and how much of that resilience shows up in the DNA of “The Escape Plan Handbook”?

It’s all an evolution,  nothing is directed or forced or even thought about consciously, we just become and what we become is evident  in our output at that time.  I usually write  a lot of songs for each album and pick the 11 or so that strike me as the better ones and so by writing a lot and not being trapped into any  song  with the thinking that this one  particular song I am working on must be put on the album, this forces me to pull in everything Ive got at the moment, creating a lot of work and not fine tuning or focusing too much on the details, at first, nor stopping to be conscious of a specific statement to make. It’s all just an outpouring of being at that moment in time.  An overwhelming capturing of what’s in the net. I never stopped this fishing expedition except for the time I was rebuilding my studio and re-thinking a few things.  None of my heroes stopped. Nobody stops who ever really began. If you began for reasons other than creating as great a work you can and for that reason only, you won’t stop.  That’s what keeps so many of us going after  making 0.0036 cents per listen.

• Greg, you started playing guitar at 8, was in a band at 12, and playing NYC bars at 16 — yet at 18 you made the deliberate choice to step away from the lucrative live musician path and focus entirely on writing and recording your own music. How has that foundational decision shaped everything Lord Sonny The Unifier has become?

Everything we do, everything,  builds onto our soul, piles on. We’re walking wooly mammoths lumbering into the streets, the bars, your friends place for a BBQ, the Supermarket.  We’re MASSIVE. Wearing massive coats of history and memories, secrets, plans, fantasies, losses, wins, everything is there, piled on a clear,  somewhat weightless overcoat. When we create our art we’re moving the brush and choosing the paint with this behemoth soul, this life’s overcoat on.  Hopefully it’s light as a feather and  a wise guide for us and not a burden. That’s the point of this human experience. Stay light. When I begin to write a song I tell myself,    I’ve got one objective to get a  good one,  to get it  “right” and that is to have fun. I don’t know what I am going to do but I am going to do it and have fun doing it.  Nobody knows how to write a great song,  nobody. There’s no knowing, there’s only doing and hoping for some magic. Magic comes to the free.   This will open up a lot more avenues for creation,  a lot more roads reveal themselves when you’re lighter,  for one, you’re flying higher and can see more options. You don’t see clearly down in the mud. I chose the most creative path, that is writing, sometimes at the expense of playing live but so be it.

• The album has been compared to Viagra Boys, Tom Waits, Motorhead, David Bowie, The Lennon Claypool Delirium, and Jack White — a wild and eclectic range. Which of those comparisons feels most accurate to you, and which one surprises you most?

It’s so difficult to say exactly how we are influenced by the artists we love. Hopefully I wasn’t too influenced by any of the above mentioned great artists. I certainly don’t want to be.  I want to make music that, from the first note, people will say, that’s Lord Sonny The Unifier,  like we do when we hear the songs and artists we love. Think of the greatest guitar   players, you only need to hear 2 seconds of a note and you can say, Oh that’s Carlos Santana, that’s Richie Blackmore. 2 seconds. That’s the ultimate achievement for a writer. Probably the artists from when I was much much younger directly influenced me. The songs I heard at 2 or 3 years old. Those rhythms and beats told me, hey, this is the music of your era,  in your birthplace. This is it …and it sunk in,  and those roots grew to many branches and leaves and some of those leaves died and some of those branches grew larger some smaller but the roots stayed and got fatter and deeper.  If I were born in Jamaica and heard those rhythms  as a 3 year old I would be playing reggae. I can’t now, it’s not me. Do I love it? yes. Do I freak out when the beat is on the 3? Yes and I write music with the beat on the 3 sometimes because I love it so much but it’s not reggae.  If someone says,  you sound like so and so- your career is doomed. You won’t shake the pages of a music history book that’s for sure . Kandinsky the great painter who some say created the first abstract painting in the early 20th century (tho that’s up for debate) said that if you create a work that is based on someone else’s work  or use theirs as a  starting point in your work then your work will be stillborn.  He would know.

• Alternative Nation called LTSU a band with “not an ounce of compromise” and The Farsighted noted something “distinct that will never be accused of being derivative.” In a Brooklyn music scene that can sometimes reward a certain kind of cool, what does it actually cost to be that uncompromising — and has it ever cost you something you regret?

Well, the ultimate cool is never being accused of being derivative or not having an ounce of compromise. So we fit right in, HA! I think that’s what’s so great about the Brooklyn Music scene-  that those descriptors can apply to so many of the bands there. It is the melting pot of Freaks. It’s changing a bit for the worse as the rents are incomprehensible and creating a restricted area for most artists. It will soon change like Manhattan did and as soon as everyone’s lease is up or lost somehow, it will be gone and moved elsewhere- if the music scene continues with a BAND being the central core, as this is evolving as well.  The only thing I regret as a musician is working too much at things not musical.

• Lead single “Ain’t Nobody Listening” — what is that song about, and why was it the right first signal to send from this album into the world?

In that song,  Ain’t Nobody Listening,   I sing,  ‘ I pulled the alarm cause my head is on fire/ the men in charge are serial liars/  thought I’d let you know/  it’s gonna blow’  There’s a maniacal urgency when there is  maniacal, incomprehensible behavior by our so called leaders. It’s absolutely out of control that this behavior has been normalized and so it began the LP.  It’s an overt blaring of emergency and the effects of people shouting in the streets and nothing much changing, if anything. This goes back to your first question and how the young fighters in this country are trapped in their jobs and have so little time and energy to take over the streets like they did in the 60’s. They’re not listening to us and we dont believe a word they say- that’s pretty much the loop we’re in. At this point it feels as if the only change that will emerge is from an Alien intervention of the extraterrestrial kind.

• Vinyl is coming shortly after the digital release, and the album is available to pre-order on BandCamp now. Where does Lord Sonny The Unifier go from here — and is there already a next escape plan forming on the horizon?

I was going to call the next album The Escape Plan Handbook Part 2 but thought because of our short attention spans nobody would notice the part 2 part in the title  and it would get brushed aside, but yes there is another album that I am in the studio recording now. It’s more of a where we go when we get out of the bunker album. I’d love to play more shows live as well. I’ve got a 7 piece band so it’s a bit of an ordeal to pull them all together for gigs without a guarantee. Hopefully we’ll get there this year.

⇒ Pre-order the album on Bandcamp.

The album took nearly two years to put together. Moore rebuilt drum parts from old recordings measure by measure using MIDI, done by hand rather than with any AI assistance, before handing tracks off to a roster of collaborators spread from Dallas and Pittsburgh to Albuquerque and the UK, including Jay Michael Smith and Brian Patterson of The Speaker Wars and veteran engineer Stuart Epps, whose credits include Led Zeppelin’s Coda and work alongside Jimmy Page and Paul Rodgers. Seven of the album’s tracks had already come out as singles starting in late 2025 before the full record arrived.

An incredible constant high is the rhythm and swing of everybody in the band; it feels very lived-in, and the pocket is delicious. All the way from “Chasing The Mothership,” which, as the title implies, is obviously energetic and hectic, to more relaxed songs like “Land Of Sunshine,” which, by the way, is supremely melodic. One of my favorite tracks on the album is “When Lightning Strikes.” I actually couldn’t stop listening to it; it’s so tight from all angles it has no fat to trim, as they say. The melodies land rhythmically in a very satisfying way, and the rhythm section’s parts complement each other so well.

The album ends on an experimental and instrumental piece called “Time,” which I think nicely ties the album and the band to that psychedelic 70s sound more so than other songs on the album. The song has these cascading melodies that sound like what spirals look like. It’s a song that rewards active listening, which I think everyone would find easy even though it has no vocals on it.

The record’s emotional centerpiece, by Moore’s own account, is “Mysteries Of Life,” where Jay Michael Smith’s guitar work leans so close to Patterson’s own playing style that it sounds like Jim himself is still in the room. That’s the kind of detail that only lands on a project built with this much care, and it’s what separates A Wink Is As Good As A Nod To A Blind Mule from a standard studio record. This one was built to remember somebody, and it shows in every part of how it was made.

• “Beauty in Darkness” follows “Far From Home,” which featured a full orchestra. What led you to move away from that setup this time, and how did you approach building the album’s scale without it?

So, first of all, thank you very much for this interview and the wonderful review that goes with it! Actually, the way the album was put together was the same as for *Far From Home*, because I worked very closely with Thomas Kubler on the arrangements and orchestrations right from the start! He took my complete compositions (songwriting = Strings/Piano…) and orchestrated them, incorporating strings and pianos! The decision not to use an orchestra is, of course, a question of cost, as it’s really expensive to hire one – even though the Budapest orchestra offers more reasonable rates. I’ll now reserve that for film scores, depending on the directors or producers who place their trust in me/us, and perhaps for certain shows in the future – if possible, for a DVD or Blu-ray release, why not as Devin Townsend for the Moth ! Furthermore, I find that Thomas’s orchestrations, performed naturally without an orchestra, have a more massive sound than a standard orchestra, and I prefer that. It’s also simpler to weave all the elements together with the electric sounds! As for the vocals, I’ve actually recorded them – and asked the guest vocalists to record theirs – on the orchestral tracks rather than the electronic ones, which, in my view, gives a much more consistent result than on *Far From Home*. It’s a step forward. Some shows will also be performed using the orchestral tracks (acoustic) to create an even more cinematic feel, à la Hans Zimmer, but with my own artistic touch!

• You’ve said you’ve been the main songwriter and composer since “Far From Home.” How has that shift in role changed the way you write compared to the Constellia and Secret Garden era?

So you should know that for about 20 years now, I’ve composed around 500 improvisations on the electric guitar (my first instrument), where I’ve developed a good level of technical skill, and especially on the keyboard, which – like Hans Zimmer – allows me to escape to other realms and pick up on frequencies and vibrations that come from elsewhere! Interpretations of books such as Stephen King’s *The Shining*, and so on… Anything is possible across all genres, and it is this variety that I hope to bring to my future projects and creations! Each one will be a quite different world! I’ve sung in various ensembles before , choirs younger and across different registers, which has allowed my singing to evolve from album to album and reach a professional standard – according to renowned coaches and sound engineers – now more than ever before! For *Constellia* / *Secret Garden*, I enlisted the help of a French composer to assist me in to work through the various stages of creating an album and feel more confident about future projects! I’d written about twenty very epic pieces that I regularly played on the keyboard in preparation for concerts! I wanted to use massive orchestrations – or even a full orchestra – right from the start, but in the end things turned out differently! I always maintained my artistic vision throughout, though; in the end, I decided to go for radio-friendly compositions. My themes, composed on the keyboard and piano (not the full epic compositions), were therefore used and retaken for 12 tracks, and he then wove melodies over them, incorporating some contemporary elements! We then recorded the vocals over the various compositions, which were generally based on piano and strings, and he added elements on top as appropriate! I oversaw the process and ensured things aligned with my vision whenever they didn’t. Then, gradually, ideas for music videos, lyrics and other elements came to me. So that’s what’s different – it’s co-composition, or rather co-songwriting! I then gained a better understanding of the artistic world and what I did and didn’t want! Given that there are often ego clashes amongst the musicians I’d previously brought on stage, I wanted to opt for a broader vision that was entirely personal and unique, even though there were already significant elements of it in Secret Garden under Constellia.

⇒ Don’t miss checking our album review on “Far From Home” here.

After that, I wanted complete independence, so I chose to carry on under Max Enix, managing everything myself from start to finish and working with a team of efficient collaborators! So that’s the big difference: from *Far From Home* onwards, I composed all the songs on the keyboard (sometimes strings, sometimes piano, sometimes both), and Thomas fully respected the complete structures I wanted for the tracks from start to finish, before taking them on and orchestrating them, rearranging certain parts. Just like Hans Zimmer, who has various collaborators and bases his vision on instinct and the sacred! So in the orchestral version, you can see the work we’ve accomplished together for film scores, games, TV series, etc… A whole range of artistic worlds are possible! Then I hired musicians for the electric versions, giving them my instructions on placement and other details – or not – and they followed the music, adding and composing their own parts on top! *Far From Home*, then *Beauty in Darkness*, followed by the upcoming *Ocean of Light*, *Tears of Africa*, *3049*, *Halloween Ghosts*, *Love Letters*, *A dragon at the top of the sacred mountain*, *From the Other side of the mirrors*, *The black cat in the magic street*, *The Pale Blue PhoEnix*, etc… Dozens of projects in mind!

This will always be the case from *Far From Home* onwards, which allows me to express myself fully and to create works that reflect who I am in every respect, enhanced by the orchestrations and the musicians – whether they are involved or not – because the evolution of my art is vast and can open up vast universes and dimensions of the soul. Epic, radio-style, purely instrumental compositions that will blend various genres – contemporary or otherwise – depending entirely on the stories I write, which may also be purchased for films (screenplays)! From *Far From Home* onwards, there will always be an original and an orchestral version (as a bonus or additional Album)!

• The album is built like chapters in a single story, ending on a short, delicate piano piece. Was that narrative structure planned from the start, or did it take shape as the songs came together?

Yes, quite right – it’s not a concept album in the strict sense of the term, with songs that follow on from one another without a break, but rather a concept album with chapters that make the character question things and take him on a journey; he eventually realises the horror of certain aspects of society and the dead ends in certain areas, and ultimately commits the irreparable because he knows that another path and spiritual awakening exist! A reflection on life, death, suffering, but also on beauty both here on earth and beyond! In this sense, *Ocean of Light* will be a sort of heavenly ascent towards the Heavens, with compositions that are mainly radio-friendly (with a few exceptions) leading up to a 20-minute apocalyptic finale, where the Angels of Darkness and Light, united after the battle, will put a stop to human Machiavellianism and the diabolical system spawned by false, fallen angels and Judas who lead to the cliffs clinging to unwholesome interests! What will remain is pain and Love! A new age of souls and new universal languages!

• Thomas Kubler returns to handle orchestrations on this record after working on “Far From Home.” What does that collaboration look like in practice, and how much does he shape the final sound of a track?

As explained in one of the previous replies, Thomas does an absolutely masterful job and, to me, is one of the best orchestrators working today – and he’s only 27! He has a brilliant future ahead of him in this field! I entrust him with my keyboard compositions (strings, piano or various sounds, particularly for future projects); he takes the complete structure (songwriting) that I’ve created – including demos – and orchestrates them with a few re-arrangements to elevate the whole piece using the latest technology, whilst staying as true as possible to the intended atmosphere!

• Niklas Kvarforth and George Kollias both appear on some of the album’s heavier, more apocalyptic tracks. How did those collaborations come about, and what did each of them bring to the songs?

These choices came naturally as a way of staying rooted in the present day and the society in which we live! Niklas and Michael have already collaborated on *Far From Home* on one or two tracks, but I wanted to bring them back here to add that apocalyptic feel and sense of the end of an era, whilst remaining grounded in the current social malaise. Some very powerful messages are emerging, and they’ve written their own lyrics to add a personal touch alongside the ones I’ve written. I wanted the vocals to be placed very precisely, and Niklas was clever enough not to overdo it or shout as he does in his own projects! He managed to capture the very essence of the album without overdoing it, sometimes whispering the words to create an extra layer of emotional and otherworldly impact! Michael has done an absolutely remarkable job and is always at the cutting edge when it comes to rap and R&B vocals! He deserves far greater exposure and many more contracts ! We’ll certainly be collaborating on a number of shows in the near future, amongst other things! George Kollias is a real beast and what he have done on drums on the songs Sodomizing the Snakes (the humans ones) and Destruction Camps is impressive ! Thanks to him ! There may well be opportunities for further collaborations, including on various side projects where we’ll join forces!

• Michael Herrington Onetwenty’s rap and R&B contribution stands out as a genre departure. What made that the right fit for this particular album?

As explained earlier, it embodies the evolution of society in a certain sense, featuring rap and R&B vocals, amongst others, but integrated here into a broader, more emotional concept! These styles of music, much like Linkin Park’s, when well-integrated with fused elements, can be very enjoyable and catchy without falling into the narrow-mindedness of some people on either side of the spectrum! Not here to talk about barbecue or in an humoristic way ! It helps to attract audiences who might not necessarily have listened to this sort of music and to shift attitudes towards an even broader future! The same will hold true for the Enix Records label, which I’ll be setting up later to showcase all kinds of transcendent and emotional music, with an extra touch of soul across all genres and origins! This label will be affiliated with another established label so that we can build a fantastic team and push the boundaries together and reach new audiences!

⇒ Check out our review for “Beauty in Darkness” here.

• Much of the core lineup, including Xavier Boscher, Simon Johansson, Jean-Jacques Moréac, and Leo Margarit, carries over from “Far From Home.” How important is that continuity to how the band’s sound has developed?

So, yes, I do think it’s important to maintain consistency from album to album since *Far From Home*, and this will remain the case in the future, whatever form it takes! This time, Vikram Shankar isn’t on piano because I wanted to keep my own piano parts more personal, and these have been integrated into the orchestrations in the best possible way! The same will apply in the future too, apart from certain collaborations – such as with Calixte Fischer, an incredible young french pianist, on a more acoustic album I have in mind (similar to *Ashram* Band but more personal and with an other Vision) which will be called *Love Letters*, for example. Lots of ideas! It’s worth noting that Simon Johansson wasn’t on *Far From Home*! He was brought into the album’s line-up to add further variety to the sound and pave the way for future shows where we’ll have one guitarist handling the leads, solos and acoustic parts, and another for the rhythm parts. Everyone involved have made again a wonderful work. Thanks for them. I think it’s important, as far as possible, to maintain consistency, much like the Devin Townsend Band did in its day. But we’ll see how it all develops. And I need musicians and people who respect the work they’re involved in! Not the others – and I’m very selective in that regard!

• The album’s lyrical themes deal with apocalypse, transcendence, and the body giving way to light and spirit. Where did that concept come from, and how did it guide the writing?

The process is deeply spiritual and comes from beyond! Everything is guided by the Love from another sacred place, both here and beyond! Body and mind are one, and the soul is the vessel for all manner of emotions! Interdimensional journeys depending on the different souls incarnations through times ! Reminders of the deep and universal connections that are bound by other threads, whether invisible or not! The transcendence of a single moment and the delight of celestial caresses and pleasure that carry us towards nirvana and well-known spiritual realms! The source and reminder of our bonds, beyond the false ones that some try to create or interpret! A reminder of our origins and the fusion of our hearts, emotions and spiritual forms, both here and beyond! In Sanguine Veritas and Beyond, through life, death and far beyond. The storms of emotion that penetrate and haunt us!

• You said the tracks on the album would be presented in orchestral versions together with the originals. Why did you want to present the material in both forms?

The original version is ultimately the main one, but the orchestral version forms the basis of the work, bringing a different, transcendent approach to the whole and allowing the composition and songwriting to come through more clearly! In my view, this one complements the original! Unlike *Far From Home*, this time there are no additional sound effects grafted onto the story! I reserve that for true concept albums with a scenario, maintaining continuity wherever possible! Here you have a pure, distant, deep sound that takes you on a journey to different places – some accessible, some inaccessible, and some that only the soul can feel when remember definitely not under pression of the saboteurs/parasites/Apophis ! Anubis is watching a said and the weight of hearts and souls ! Unlike *Far From Home*, which featured an orchestral version released on three CDs that could be purchased separately from the original two-CD album, here in *Beauty in Darkness* you have the original on one CD and the orchestral version on another CD, which will only be available as a bonus in the digipak edition! But I strongly advise you to get this one so you can listen to whichever version suits your mood and preferences, as both are equally good in my opinion! This will always be the case for future albums under the Max Enix label!

• You spoke of a cyberpunk vibe live show with visuals and lighting. What do you envision for “Beauty in Darkness” on stage?

So yes, the shows will indeed have a distinctive, unique approach with different set-ups! There’ll be cyberpunk and goth elements in the styling to create a contemporary, futuristic feel that fits with my broader vision! You’ll sometimes see me with a fleeting light blue hue and matching clothing elements that will help create a unique universe! Although in everyday life I’ll keep my natural dark blonde hair tied back, with strands that will sometimes fall loose (letting it grow out to naturally evoke the poetry of *Ocean of Light* and counter the cold, shaved look of *Beauty in Darkness*)! I’m also working on my physical and mental condition to be ready! The first shows and tours are set to take place in England (UK) and, in certain venues – bars and clubs – will feature a unique, acoustic set-up where I’ll be singing solo or sometimes with a female singer (powerful, varied, emotional, sensitive, professional…) over orchestral arrangements and a few accompanying samples! Lights will come on, and the venue will sometimes be plunged into darkness when I’m not singing, to let the music speak for itself (Yin and Yang, Light and darkness, Creations, Cosmos…)! Then, there will sometimes be a video screen or projector showing striking images of the world’s beauty, the horror and Beyond ! This set-up will be replicated with the electrical elements in larger venues, and sometimes session musicians will join me for the bigger shows or festivals! The entire *Beauty in Darkness* album will be performed, and occasionally a few tracks from *Far From Home* or even *Ocean of Light* tracks will be played exclusively! Purely instrumental and orchestral interludes may also feature! There are plenty of possibilities with this innovative vision!

• Looking ahead, you talked about a number of future projects in the pipeline. How does “Beauty in Darkness” fit into that longer-term vision for your work?

I think *Beauty in Darkness* is a sort of exorcism of the thoughts of the moment, the pervasive stress and the anxiety caused by the sentinels in the Matrix, as well as a scathing critique of a society turned upside down – the system in which we live! Just as with a film role, I had to incorporate this feeling into my everyday life and bear the weight of this condition – a burden that many people will be able to relate to! ‘Ocean of Light’ will be a source of solace and wonder, hope after the descent, deep and indestructible Love connected to the divine and the sacred, steering clear of the false labyrinths where one gets lost. Natural evolution! And the next pieces in this vein will be lighter or more intense depending on the emotions of the moment, but always there to convey messages and push the boundaries towards the transcendence of a moment—here and beyond! The echo of our souls in unison, connected to another dimension of the soul where we feel completely in tune, without frills or false paths! Emotions that make us feel alive and immortal together!

• Thank you for taking the time to speak with us. “Beauty in Darkness” is a dense, ambitious record, and it’s clear Max Enix is still building out a larger world around this material. Stream “Beauty in Darkness” and keep an eye on Enix’s socials for upcoming news.

Thank you so much for everything! Anyone wishing to collaborate with me in general, or for film projects (in various roles), who would like me to feature as a guest vocalist on one of their albums, to perform at certain shows, or who would like me to write songs or compose music for them (Bands, Artists, films, TV series, games, etc.), amongst other things, can contact me here: maxenixmaxenix@pm.me! Thank you for your time and support! See you soon! The Future is here & Now! Max Enix

This is not a record that wants to be comfortable. It was not designed to be.

BARREN MOTHER OF ALL takes its title from a quote by Indian guru Nisargadatta Maharaj: “Consciousness is only a concept. Therefore, I call the entire manifestation, ‘The child of a barren woman.'” That paradox — something vast and undeniable built from something that cannot exist — runs through the album’s entire conceptual architecture.

Moore tackles the all-consuming void, the catastrophic path humanity is currently on, and the unflinching honesty of someone experiencing a genuine depth of despair, shapeshifting, and rebirth. The album serves as anarchy — aimed at provoking an inner uprising, an internal reckoning with the forces bearing down on all of us from outside and within.

“The musical approach is meant to act as anarchy,” Moore says. “I wanted to be really brazen and reflect the inner spirit. Most of the vocals are one take and many of the songs were written and recorded within an hour. I wanted to capture the energy of the moment. Iggy Pop is one of my heroes — I take inspiration from him being so incredibly loose and free.”

Equal doses of industrial, trap, witch house, post-punk, gothic rock, noise, metal, 80s horror soundtracks, and dystopian psychedelia combine into a devilish brew that refuses to stabilise or settle. The album blurs industrial abrasion with witch-house murk, post-punk tension with goth-rock theatre, blown-out noise with metal heft, synth-horror camp, and chemically altered psychedelia — all moving in the same dangerous direction.

“I’ve got a living womb and a buzzing hive. You want to kill the Queen, yet I’m still alive. My babies all in formation. There’s no contemplation. If you approach the hive… that’s a SITUATION.”

The Queen metaphor runs throughout — Moore sending his baby bees to battle against random chaos, positioning himself as a figure of radical, reproductive, unstoppable force. Confrontational. Theatrical. Completely sincere.

The Covers and the Only Guest

BARREN MOTHER OF ALL includes covers of PJ Harvey, Tom Waits, The Doors, and Rage Against the Machine — and the highlight is a raucous reimagining of Beastie Boys’ “Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun,” among Moore’s favourite songs and one he has long wanted to properly reclaim.

The album’s only guest is Shenzie — Moore’s black cat — who can be heard chirping on “District 8.”

IN ALL MY NIGHTMARES I AM ALONE established the trilogy’s template — 30+ songs of uncensored chaos, frustration, and outpoured beauty, a tour through danger, mental illness, and the darkness we avoid. GRIST deepened the philosophy — named for Ram Dass’s concept that all of life’s experience, trauma, transcendence, and suffering is “grist for the mill of awakening” — hunting, laughing, mourning, and challenging listeners to step into their true selves without fear.

BARREN MOTHER OF ALL completes the arc. It is the void at the centre of all of it, stared at directly and documented without blinking.

“Verstas” (Finnish for “workshop”) draws directly from his father’s life of creativity, independence, and craftsmanship. Through thoughtful lyrics and self-produced sound, Selin transforms a lifetime of collected memories into a heartfelt homage, celebrating a multitalented man whose life was cut short but left an enduring legacy. The song’s title and album artwork both stem from this powerful family story.

A fiercely independent artist, Petri Selin maintains complete creative control over every aspect of his music, from songwriting and composition to performance and production. He has deliberately kept record companies at a distance to preserve the purity of his artistic vision. Performing exclusively in his mother tongue, Finnish, Selin blends folk-pop sensibilities with subtle rap influences, creating a distinctive and authentic sound rooted in tradition and personal storytelling.

“Verstas is my second single. My debut single was published 8 years ago, in 2018, and was named ‘Kesä saapuu vihdoin Helsinkiin’. These both singles are mostly self-made and played. Lyrics, music, and voice are also self-created. Not any record company is allowed to influence them,” says Selin.

This patient, thoughtful approach defines his work: songs built from words and memories gathered over a lifetime, waiting for the perfect moment of inspiration. “Verstas” is more than a song; it is a son’s mission to honour his father’s lifestyle, philosophy, and remarkable skills with the positive recognition he deserves.

About Petri Selin

Petri Selin is an independent Helsinki artist known for crafting intimate, narrative-driven folk-pop. With nearly a decade between releases, he focuses on authenticity and emotional depth rather than trends. His music reflects both Finnish roots and contemporary experimentation, delivered with honesty and care.

Stream “Verstas” now on all major platforms.

“Anyway you come” came out of a difficult period: Fiona’s mother had been diagnosed with a terminal illness the year before, and the song captures a specific, hard-won realization – that when faced with losing someone you can’t imagine life without, you find yourself willing to support whatever version of that person remains, as long as they’re still here. It’s never had a real promotional push, quietly picked up by listeners who discovered it after streaming her other work, and it’s overdue for wider attention.

Her signature soulful vocals were just as good here in 2023 as they are now. The clear evolution is in the accompaniment – I think in the latest releases it suits her character better, though this is still excellent. “Anyway you come” carries the gentler, more stripped-back arrangement that fits a singer-songwriter ballad of this weight, letting the vocal performance do most of the emotional work without much else competing for space. It’s a quieter, more raw version of the artist than the rock-leaning singles that followed, which makes sense given what she was processing at the time.

Hearing “Anyway you come” now, after the rest of her catalog, gives the song an extra layer of context – you can hear an artist still finding the exact shape of her sound, with the voice and the honesty already fully formed. That’s often how the best discographies work: not a sudden arrival, but a steady refinement of something that was true from the start. This one deserves to find the audience it’s been missing.

The Devil You Know exudes snarl, feist, and bad romance. It is a record built on the energy of whiskey-soaked nights, a cool death rattle, and carpe diem impulsiveness. Untethered rawness and authenticity take center stage in a scrappy collection that lets go of the wheel completely, wearing its bloody punk heart with pride.

The album serves as a snapshot of a powerful “his, hers, and ours” songwriting collaboration between Will Croxton and Judy Ann Nock. Together, they inject a punk and garage rawness into an expanding Americana sensibility, creating themes that are deeply personal, political, and darkly romantic.

“This album came straight from authentic New York subculture. It conjures the energy of fast cars and dive bars, heartbreak, with a hint of hope for our tangled times.”

The album’s emotional gravity is anchored by its title track and single, “The Devil That You Know,” a darkly romantic duet detailing anguish, love, regret, and grief. Written by Judy Ann Nock, the song is a melodic interpretation of events that occurred almost five years ago when her husband, David, took his own life. The intensely sad chorus wails, “Let me, let me lie in the bed I made, …let me lie in an early grave,” capturing the intense guilt often felt by suicide survivors.

“My husband David suffered from the mother of all mental illnesses; schizophrenia, paranoid type,” says Judy Ann Nock. “One of his symptoms was aural hallucinations and I wanted to try to understand how that might have felt for him, with many voices firing off all at once.”

This title track follows the limited-release diss track “30 Dolls” (named Jim Testa’s Constant Listener Song of the Week) and the wildly popular “SPIT,” which garnered highly favorable reviews across The Big Takeover, Vents, Nashville Music Guide, and Hella Fuzz.

Formed in 2024, St. Divine quickly made their mark with the widely acclaimed May 2025 release of their debut EP, you can’t go forward and you can’t go back. Their distinct sound has drawn high-profile comparisons to PJ Harvey & Nick Cave, Lee Hazelwood & Nancy Sinatra (Jim Derogatis, Sound Opinions), and The Kills (Eduard Banulescu, ALT 77).

Since their inception, the band has achieved significant global exposure, racking up over 350 independent and college radio spins. Notably, they have been featured on the NPR syndicated show Sound Opinions (featuring Jim Derogatis and Greg Kot), WFMU, and the SiriusXM channel Little Steven Van Zandt’s Underground Garage.

The band has also been building a formidable live presence, recently playing the Hideout in Chicago alongside The Handcuffs (featuring Brad Elvis of the Elvis Brothers and the Romantics), sharing the stage in Somerville, MA with Girl With a Hawk, and playing New York City with The Cynz.

Golf Cart Life. The title alone tells you everything you need to know about how seriously this band takes itself — and how seriously it takes its music. Both answers: completely.

Golf Cart Life opens with “Hell No” — a track that exemplifies one of Idiot Grins’ defining creative qualities: an organically grown song that begins from a single member’s seed and blooms into something the whole band makes its own. It sets the tone immediately.

“Flip Flop” is what the band does when it’s just being itself — real rock and roll with a not-so-serious smile. A classic Idiot Grins song in the best sense: tight, irreverent, and completely alive.

“Riff 24” is described by the band with characteristic economy: “Simple Rock and Roll that is just more enjoyable to play and listen to than complicated rock.” It is also a song about RFK, his mother, and his son — proof that even the simplest-sounding track in the Idiot Grins universe carries something worth paying attention to.

The album closes with “The End of Everything” — a campfire sing-along ghost story that brings the record to its end with exactly the combination of warmth and chill the title promises.

Golf Cart Life is the sixth chapter in one of independent rock and soul’s most consistently rewarding catalogues. Idiot Grins have been releasing music since Quarry (2012) and have never made the same album twice.

Big Man (2015) drew widespread critical praise — Elmore Magazine declared it “a blend of what they accomplished before and their admiration of Stax classics” with a new spin on a vintage sound, while Big Takeover called it “a classy, burning slice of soul that would have easily found a home in the record shops of the 60s.”

State of Health (2017), featuring the Byrd Sisters on harmonies, became their most acclaimed record to date. HuffPost called it “a scrumptious album” with melodies “drenched in charming harmonics.” Lead single “Get Busy Dying” reached the Top 10 on digital radio; “Take it Back” hit Top 20. Seattle PI singled out “Get Busy Dying” as “a dynamite soul number full of bright horns and the radiant harmonies of The Byrd Sisters.”

Thoughts & Prayers (2020) took a sharp creative left turn — a full reinterpretation of the Louvin Brothers’ 1959 country-gospel album Satan is Real, covering tracks including “Satan is Real,” “The Christian Life,” and “The Angels Rejoiced.” Obscure Sound praised its “passionate vocals” and its appeal to fans of roots, Americana, and country music.

Most recently, Hounds of Mess Around (2024) delivered the lead single “Not Reggae” — which climbed to #3 on the Digital Radio Tracker Independent chart and #30 on the Rock chart.

Golf Cart Life arrives as the confident, genre-defying next move from a band that has never stopped evolving.