I wrote this track whilst I was still in high school. We even performed it back when we were still Mischief the Cat - though only once, on our Radio Adelaide Local Noise feature. It always stayed on the backburner, never really finding a place within what Mischief was. I'm glad to finally present it as its own piece, worthy of individual focus.

As a guitarist, my #1 influence is Paul Gilbert, which shows very clearly (and very deliberately) on this track. I wore out my Silence Followed By A Deafening Roar CD in high school, which for me is still the ideal instrumental rock guitar album. I adored the energy in The Gargoyle, the cheek in Bultaco Saturno, and, most obviously relevant to this song, the drama and expression in I Cannot Tell A Lie.

Perhaps Moon is a bit of a tribute to Paul Gilbert - it certainly follows his style in many ways. But at the same time, it's my first big step in exploring the "lead vocal" qualities of the guitar - its lyricism, its dynamics, its drama. It's my first big step in exploring guitar and instrumental music as a language separate from explicit lyrical interpretation. I've written other instrumental pieces, but I've always been particularly proud of this one, so I thought it would be nice to include it as a bonus track with the Hanabi//Starcrossing re-release - to show that these explorations, these experiments are elements that we're excited to explore further in FOXP2.

Scott did a great job on the bass line, as always. Most other songs see him play very intricate, unconventionally forward bass lines that act as a kind of dialogue between my own parts and his own. His role in Moon is much more orthodox and understated, showing his personality in very few and subtle call-response type fills whilst accentuating the guitar as the lead voice.

This is also the very first song that we've entirely recorded and mixed ourselves! That's super exciting! We've gone from staring at YouTube DAW tutorials and going "whaaat the fuuuck is any of this" to being able to have 100% creative freedom and independent output, which is super rewarding. It was really interesting to watch this song morph from the midi bleep-bloop of Guitar Pro to a lush, full song. We're still learning, of course, but I think it's important not discount your victories and to objectively appreciate your own good work.

As always, I've rambled too much, but that's okay. It's nice that we have pieces worthy of such thought and passion, it's nice that we're lucky enough to be able to share that, it's nice that there are people who will listen. I hope you think it's nice, too.

- Josh