Interview: Moss

Darlington’s Moss is a genre-fluid collaboration between long-time friends Moss and vocalist Oui Bee. Fusing samplers, electronics and live instruments, they craft a trip-hop sound with an alt-rock edge. 

Their self-titled EP is an expansive listen, pairing crunchy Elastica-style guitars and grooving rhythms with the soulful vocal of opener Angst, the snakey shakes and deserty ambience of The East, the sparse, cool nonchalance of UFS, and the impassioned, dramatic closure of The Age We Live In.

Here, Moss tells us more about them and their new EP…

How did Moss get together?
We have been friends since we were kids but musically got together just a couple of years ago. I remember asking Bee to do some vocals on a track for me circa 2005, and she finally got around to it on a different track (the first single True) in 2023. 

People wanted to see us live off the back of that, so we cobbled together some more, and we haven’t really stopped writing since. 

How would you define your sound?
Genre fluid… It definitely began as trip hop, but we’re both quite easily distracted so it tends to flow all over the place. Our next EP is looking canny heavy in comparison to this one. 

Who are some of your musical inspirations?
You can hear the obvious ones in the songs (Portishead, Massive Attack, NIN. All the best things about the glorious 90’s), but we take a lot of inspiration from other greats such as Patti Smith, Nick Cave and artistically, David Lynch.

Briefly describe your songwriting process.
It begins with an embryonic beat/loop, and I just add layers until it’s something worth sending to Bee. Then she works her lyrical magic, and it becomes a song. On the surface, ours is quite an unlikely collaboration, but it just seems to flow. 

We have a lot of fun with the writing process. We also have a couple of new colabs, with Glad Town Ghost and Geordio, that are almost ready for consumption. 

Tell us about your new self-titled EP. What are some of the themes that run through it?
To be honest, this is just a random snippet of what we do. There’s no theme.

We have another three videos in the pipeline that, alongside the existing one for True (available on YouTube) will form a short film. The theme there is one person’s journey through different realms. All four videos intertwine seamlessly. We’re really excited about bringing them to fruition in 2026. And particularly working with Alfoe studios again. 

What do you hope listeners take away from the EP?  
Whatever they want to. Whatever they need. 

What’s next for Moss?
We are really excited to be performing with 2 of our all-time favourite North East acts on 18th December at The Forum. Chumpwrecker – who gave us our first ever gig! And the mighty Old Corpse Road. A night of pure Darlo nostalgia! We’re really buzzed for that one. 

Then in the new year, we’ll release another collection of songs, as well as the videos we mentioned earlier. 
Gigs-wise, we struck super lucky in our first year, playing The Cluny, Hippodrome and the Mega Misfit Market, as well as some exceptionally necky support slots with bands we really admire (In Evil Hour, Chumpwrecker, Gimpfist, Last of the Fallen Angels). 

We will endeavour to keep that momentum going in 2026. We’re just having a bloody good time, forging onwards and getting our music out there. It’s good craic.