Getting to Know Moonlover
We asked Moonlover – aka Quang Dinh, formerly of Little Red – to tell us about himself ahead of the release of his debut album:
I am… a human being, located somewhere in the universe, with my spirit located in this piece of flesh, here to make somethings out of nothings.
“Queen of Sheba” is… something I used to say when something unbelievable happened. People say ‘Jesus Christ’ when something terrible happens. ‘Queen of Sheba’ is for when the positive, awe-inspiring, wondrous things occur. Two years ago when I first moved into Footscray, where there is a large African community out in Melbourne’s west, I became fascinated with Africa. I realised there was a huge gap in my knowledge of the continent as most western media and education ignores the place. So I watched heaps of documentaries on African history and culture and stumbled upon the Queen of Sheba and then followed my nose. She is a towering figure in Ethiopian culture, with a long line of royals that ruled the country tracing their lineage back to her. She’s a badass, who wields spice and has a huge hunger for knowledge. She is also a figure in Jewish, Islamic and Christian texts. Mysterious. There are many, many parallel stories about her. This song is just another bit laid down at her feet.
My upcoming debut album is… the result of 9 months of isolation in my studio bedroom called Pink Slime Studios. I recorded it alone, lost to the world and the 7day spin, in communication with the muse and the moon, pursuing imaginings. I almost lost my mind making this. Not in frustration but I was hearing things. Strange things. There are about 10,000 Quangs on this record. Don’t OD on them.
Home is… many things. In some respects home is where I live, Footscray. A marvellous dynamic town, with people speaking of all sorts of ideas in all sorts of tongues, eating all sorts of food, getting up to all sorts of mischief. Home is also Vietnam, the place where I was born before I was born. Home is also the east edge of the Milky Way, where most of humanity reside. Home is also when I’m with the people that I love and there isn’t a panic to do this or that, move left or right, where there is some kind of flow and where new ideas naturally pop up. But really home is a mobile unit that moves wherever the heart moves. But then again, home is also a distant place in the future that I haven’t found yet. Good question!
I spend too much time… waiting. Bang it!
I‘ve never… done this interview before.
It might surprise people to learn that… I was once a children’s entertainer called Doctor Wobbles. Don’t tell anyone, but my ‘wobbles’ were often caused by Saturday night’s bubbles.
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Moonlover’s debut album Thou Shall Be Free, is due out March 2 on Our Golden Friend. Pre-order it here. Keep up to date with Moonlover on Facebook.
Interview by Bobby Townsend.
