It’s been three years since koleżanka graced us with Alone With The Sound The Mind Makes. This fall, the NYC-based artist born Kristina Moore will follow up that album with Zone 2, her latest collection of songs. A note on Bandcamp explains the album title:
“Zone 2” is an anatomical term used to describe the area between the distal palmar crease to the middle of the finger in which a flexor tendon injury can occur. Because of the increased risk of complications and generally unpredictable post-op outcome, it is also referred to as “No Man’s Land.”
And on Instagram, Moore adds some gripping personal context:
Most of the bare bones of this record was written in the fall/winter of 2023, after I had severed my flexor tendon in my middle finger and was subsequently waiting on surgery/recovering from surgery, having zero ability to use my left hand and an extremely uncertain future regarding its use. My surgeon told me to expect to “never play guitar again”. I couldn’t work so I was spending every day in front of a borrowed Casio Privia weighted keyboard (shout out @mitch__myers ), laughing and crying and willing myself into some sort of chaotic healing through playing music however I could. It yielded a very different body of work, and “Levers and Pulleys” feels like its flagship song.
I wrote and rewrote this song so many times it almost didn’t make the record. The core of the song was written within the first week of my injury. I wrote and performed the treble and bass cleft piano at the end with just my right hand on the original demo. It was grueling to learn with both later on, and felt like it became an essential full circle part of my recovery. Elana and I worked through the end clarinets in studio, writing in real time and tracking on the spot. This process was very emotional and very special to hear a thing that had lived in my brain one-handed for so long come together.
This image for Zone 2 was taken by @mathewfg at the very end of last year. It is notably one of the last photos ever taken of me and my cat, Felix, together before he passed away early January. I thought it encapsulated much of what Zone 2 is about – realizing you are losing something or have lost something you will never have again and allowing yourself to be changed by it and become new rather than remain stagnant in mourning
Moore teased Zone 2 recently with the release of opening track “Lessons In Textiles,” an eerie keyboard-driven pop song that moves like a dream. Now, along with album info, we get a video for new single “Levers And Pulleys.” The song builds from extreme minimalism into a sophisticated pop-rock excursion, set to Moore’s self-made footage of a lovely day at the beach.
Below, check out both songs.
TRACKLIST:
01 “Lessons In Textiles”
02 “Alone With The Sound”
03 “Soft”
04 “Levers And Pulleys”
05 “Kleinert Protocol”
06 “Greening”
07 “Hook, Line, Sinker!”
08 “Claims Adjuster”
09 “Single Wooden Bullet”
10 “Range Of Motion”
11 “Botanika”
Zone 2 is out 9/18. Pre-order it here.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source stereogum.com ’
