“Justinian” is the latest chamber pop single from Moon Hound, the Queens NY based band helmed by composer and guitarist Ian McNally. Bits of Andrew Bird and Fleet Foxes combine to form an efficient and potent composition led by McNally’s imagery-laden storytelling and raw, unadorned vocal delivery. “Justinian” is off the band’s latest EP Wait for Nothing”, out now.
“Justinian was written at the beginning of love. It’s a zoomed-in look at a famous love story between Justinian and Theodora, exploring bygone intimacy we don’t think about when hearing those kinds of stories. Any zoom-outs I tried to keep in the context of their observance rather than their actual being i.e. “the lights of our city did undertake the disposal of the stars above our heads”. I wrote it in a flurry, under 30 minutes, spurred by a return to folk music enjoyment after a lengthy break. This track was re-recorded a few different times, with the final bones being laid in early 2019. I wanted to keep it as intimate as possible to honor the lyrics so we landed on less present percussion and minimal backing instruments,” says McNally.
