Preview: MUNA at Leader Bank Pavilion on 9/26 + 9/27
MUNA made the news in the music sphere earlier this year for being the second act to sign with Phoebe Bridgers’ Saddest Factory Records label, but the Southern California-based band have already been making waves since 2014. Having built up a considerable fanbase worldwide, the electronic pop group have opened for Harry Styles’ tour and hosted their own headlining tours around the US and Europe.
After forming in college and issuing their debut EP More Perfect in 2014, MUNA quickly caught the attention of major record labels, eventually signing to RCA Records. It’s not hard to see why either – their slick, well-polished, and frankly massive-sounding electronic pop have an undeniably anthemic appeal to them. And yet, they’ve been committed to an alternative ethos all the while, never sanitizing or censoring their music – their songs have never shied away from the political, grappling with taboo issues such as abuse, suicidal tendencies, and sexuality & gender (all 3 of the band’s members are queer.) As Pitchfork’s review of the band’s excellent 2017 album Saves the World put it, “They are major-signed but remain on the mainstream’s fringes.” The band produces a deeply aware yet ultimately healing kind of music – the kind you’d cry to on the dance floor while screaming along.
The band’s new single, “Silk Chiffon” – their first on their new label – leans heavier into the band’s alt-rock influences, paring back the synths and trading them in for guitars. Not that it makes the songs any less upbeat, energetic, or euphoric – “Silk Chiffon” is unreasonably catchy, serving as an impressive demonstration of the band’s sonic versatility. It’s an exuberant celebration of life and queer love – as producer and guitarist Naomi McPherson puts it, “Silk Chiffon” is “a song for kids to have their first gay kiss to.”
MUNA are currently opening for Phoebe Bridgers on tour, and will play Boston on 9/26 and 9/27 at the Leader Bank Pavilion. Be sure to catch them live before they inevitably take their rightful place as pop music’s greatest band of all time!