Formed in 2015 in Manchester, Moi Saint’s goal was to shape the images of her thoughts and emotions into sounds and the pictures of her imagination. Combining these ideas, and with the influence of classic electronica such as Depeche Mode, Gary Numan, Coil and Enigma, Moi Saint was born and the first demos were produced. The New Moon is her debut release and represents her emotional escape, filtered through the sound of vintage synths, drum machines and the new romantic movement. The music has a modern sharpness to it, with a firm influence from industrial, yet retains a feeling of nostalgia within the haunting and enticing vocals.
Currently based in Liverpool, Moi Saint is currently preparing to take her music to the stage and transpose her music into a live band setting. Eager to find out more, we quizzed her on her tastes and influences.
A song that influenced her
Schwein – You’re My Disease
Schwein is just a pure influence I originate from. It is still difficult for me to believe this project even existed- combining Raymond Watts from PIG – the king of the lard, Sascha Konietzko from KMFDM and Atsushi Sakurai from Buck-Tick – my idol, favourite vocalist and artist of all time – this just sounds like a true devil’s creation. Heavy, gritty and dusty industrial programming Sascha and Raymond performed assisted with Atsushi’s deep, erotic and sensual vocals are just everything I love and need from music. I highly recommend listening to whole album Schweinstein – extremely experimental, inspiring, original and unexpected piece of art. It’s a true gem of electronic music.
A song she wishes she could have written
Bronski Beat – Smalltown Boy
That song has been with me all the time since little kid. Pure genius creation of 80’s new romantic with extremely powerful vocals of Jimmy Somerville – the lyrics will never lose power of their meaning. This song sounds like nostalgia and escape that vocalist sings about. Brilliant skill of making something with message and meaning same time poppy and available for wide audience is still one of the most inspiring qualities 80’s new romantic music possessed. I miss this quality too much sometimes in modern popular music and thus it is one of the reasons my heart will always stay back in 80’s electro.
Her favourite song she’s written
Reptile
From The New Moon EP. This song was my small experiment . I picked up the inspiration of simplicity listening to Me, I’m Not by NIN and it struck me how good a song can be if you just create a good drum beat with simple yet heavy synth and put a strong erotic voice on the top of it. I got obsessed with this idea and started to work around this concept only, creating my own melody and theme. Even though simply built, simplicity is not always easy to manifest if it doesn’t deliver well and isn’t perfectly done. Most of the songs I did before mostly treated the feeling of sadness, this one is more erotic and upbeat. I love it.
A song she’s been listening to a lot recently
Buck Tick – Gesshoku
I am recently re-listening to my old time bands and first inspirations. Buck-Tick is definitely my biggest one. Gesshoku is gothic but in a beautiful, romantic and sensual way. Atsushi Sakurai’s voice is one of the most beautiful creations I ever had a luck to witness in my life. I highly recommend it to anyone loving more poetic, romantic version of gothic culture. Undeniable gem.
Her all time favourite song
Dead Can Dance – Opium
It sounds like moonlight, it sounds like night, it sounds like everything I love. All Dead Can Dance creations are extremely spiritual and contain magic within but this one is pure quintessence of it. Brendan Perry’s voice melts everything on its way just from a first second of singing. All symphonic and tribal elements surrounding his voice create a space where You simply get lost and hypnotised until the melody stops – and then You want more, You want to repeat it and stay in the atmosphere that song gives you. Perfect for meditation, perfect for dance, perfect for magic, perfect for any art creation – this song accompanies me everywhere.
