ONE HUNDRED MOONS Release “The Architect,” a Darkly Expansive Prelude to Black Avalanche

LISTEN IN HERE: https://open.spotify.com/album/2G5Cdq2VLk6p62oXcEdtdK

Toronto shoegaze ensemble crafts a sonic meditation on introspection, agency, and the weight of overthinking

Toronto-based shoegaze ensemble ONE HUNDRED MOONS has released "The Architect," a deeply atmospheric new single that offers a compelling preview of their forthcoming album Black Avalanche. The track represents a significant artistic statement, showcasing the band's ability to merge sonic experimentation with profound emotional depth while carving out their distinctive position in contemporary shoegaze.

From its first moments, "The Architect" establishes an enveloping darkness. A deep, resonant bass line emerges from silence, grounding listeners in a soundscape that exists between the physical and ethereal realms. The song builds gradually, layering reverb-drenched guitars and intricate percussive elements that surge toward a climactic peak before dissolving into sudden, stark silence. This final moment of stillness carries as much weight as the sonic storm that precedes it, demonstrating the band's understanding of dynamics as an emotional tool.

The lyrical content of "The Architect" grapples with profound psychological themes, examining the space between personal agency and the paralyzing nature of excessive introspection. According to the band's own words:

"Initially born from a stream of consciousness pondering human agency and the absence of a higher authority, the track transformed into a study of overthinking and the hazards of allowing a spiral of thought to proceed unchecked. Retaining the title The Architect remains a strong declaration of this thread, suggesting that we are, in fact, the architects of our own paths."

This statement illuminates the central tension within the track—the simultaneous act of construction and deconstruction that defines human consciousness. The music itself mirrors this duality: expansive yet fractured, immense yet intimate. Each crescendo suggests a reaching toward clarity, while quieter passages embody the uncertainty inherent in self-reflection.

Sonically, ONE HUNDRED MOONS continues to dissolve boundaries between shoegaze, post-rock, and alternative rock traditions. The five-piece ensemble—comprising Collin Young, Jen Vella, Justin Hunt, Matt Laplante, and NJ Borreta—constructs immersive sonic environments built on cascading guitar textures, hypnotic rhythmic patterns, and vocals that float like half-remembered dreams. Drawing from influences including My Bloody Valentine, Radiohead, and Slowdive, they synthesize shoegaze's dreamlike qualities with post-rock's cinematic scope and the raw emotional directness of 1990s alternative rock. The result feels simultaneously timeless and urgently contemporary.

"The Architect" functions as an emotional preview of Black Avalanche, an album that promises to explore themes of tension, transformation, and cathartic release. The band's capacity to balance technical sophistication with genuine emotional vulnerability establishes them as among Toronto's most compelling musical acts, consistently pushing shoegaze beyond mere nostalgia toward something more visceral and profoundly human.

The single's release aligns with ONE HUNDRED MOONS' fall Ontario tour, featuring performances across Waterloo, Oshawa, Niagara, Toronto, Hamilton, and Windsor. Their live presentations translate studio precision into visceral experiences where illumination, darkness, and sound converge to create collective moments of emotional release. Audiences describe their concerts as immersive encounters rather than traditional performances, drawn into the same hypnotic intensity that characterizes their recorded work.

With "The Architect," ONE HUNDRED MOONS create a space for listeners to experience tension and release in equal measure—a realm where melody, distortion, and introspection become inseparable. The track both challenges and comforts, suggesting that within chaos exists the potential for creation and meaning. As the band approaches the release of Black Avalanche, this single serves as a powerful declaration of artistic intent: haunting, purposeful, and unmistakably human. It confirms their position as artists unafraid to explore the darker corners of consciousness while crafting beauty from dissonance.

"The Architect" stands as proof that shoegaze can still evolve, still challenge, and still resonate with profound emotional truth in an era often dominated by surface-level production and predictable song structures.Retry