Originally a clearing house for former Squitch fronter Emery Spooner’s teenaged demos, Night Moth has since metamorphosed into a full band with its own sonic identity rooted in the group’s deep friendships. Joined by Squitch’s Denzil Leach and Kit Malmberg alongside Clifford’s Miles Chandler, Night Moth is something like a supergroup for people who religiously read this website, and their debut self-titled full length is out now on friend of the blog Worry Bead Records. Now split between three different cities (and two time zones), Night Moth is equal parts an opening salvo and also a bookend to a period both emotionally fraught and beautifully transformative. Putting aside (some) of the constantly shape-shifting musicality of their prior project for (somewhat) more plainspoken written and musical language, Night Moth is a heart-rendering step forward for one of our city’s finest songwriters.
Night Moth heads out on a record release tour starting tonight, so we sat down with Emery ahead of that to get the scoop, hit play on the stream and read on for more below.
Allston Pudding: Night Moth existed concurrently with Squitch, do you see these songs as a continuation of the spirit of that project or something more distinct?
Night Moth: Night Moth started as really just a Bandcamp for my demos when I was 18-19, and became the project where I tried out new songs performing solo before fleshing them out with the bandmates.
The new record feels like a chapter in the Night Moth arc – a name and project that will stay with me through different iterations of bandmates, arrangements, fast periods and slow periods. That being said, of course this record would be nowhere near the same without the collaborations with Miles, Denzil, Kit, Seth Engel (Options), and in early demoing days, Will McGovern (of Ribbon/Tiny Deserts).
AP: How long have these songs been gestating, and how much have they changed in the time since? Both musically and to you personally?
NM: I wrote the oldest songs in Fall of 2022 while living in Western Mass and then with my parents in NH for a few months. I lost a dear friend during that time, and I also sort of hit mental rock bottom in a few ways. That’s when I wrote Truly, Nothing Left/Sun Tricks, The Game. You can kind of hear it in the lyrics – I was being extra hard on myself. Writing those songs actually kind of helped me see that – I needed to be kinder to myself to really move forward.
Hearing that inner critic come out in those songs was hard a year or two ago, but now in 2026 I have a lot of compassion for the many versions of myself that have existed since that time. The other songs are a bit more hopeful in nature and political thematically – those feel re-inspiring to listen to and reflect back on as time has passed (and share with the world, finally!!)
AP: Tell us about recording the album/the space it was done in since it’s kind of a unique situation
NM: Yes! Seth Engel floated the idea of doing a recording tour in Dec ’24 and we jumped right on that. He had a few other bands interested in recording and we brainstormed where we could possibly post up for 4-5 days to track 11 songs. Luckily the sweetest people in the world Nico, Bella and others live in a loft space in Charlestown with big ceilings and the roomy sounds we were looking for. Seth packed up his mobile recording rig and drove all the way here from Chicago 🙂 Seth truly did an incredible job and re-amped all of our guitars in the big open space (and later, our vocals!) to really cement the live feel. Could not be happier.
AP: A lot of these songs reference labor/worker’s rights and I know you work in a similar vein, tell us about how your profession influences your art?
NM: I first started organizing in 2021, and in the last year I’ve become a staff organizer at a nurse’s union. I’ve always loved this kind of work, and doing it full-time is really really inspiring. I get to see regular ordinary people come together and accomplish seemingly impossible tasks, like striking 2000 workers, winning a union for the first time, and build a work culture based on solidarity and trust in one another. This work keeps me hopeful, inspired and staves off the depression that living among such division, racism, and austerity can create. I think it keeps me really grounded in what’s true and what matters. I hope that’s clear in the songs.
AP: It’s basically impossible to make apolitical art and anyone that says so is, to borrow a phrase from the album, a coward, but some of these songs are pretty succinct in their targets, how do you write in such a pointed way while avoiding being corny?
NM: Well I appreciate that you think it isn’t corny. I really just try to write from my own personal emotions. Whether it’s personal heartbreak or an expression of political hope or anger at a specific system or situation, if you access your own feelings and write from that place – I think it’s less likely to be corny. It’s a bit hard to describe. I also think, if you connect to and believe in your own songs, it comes across as more genuine and therefore less corny. That’s the best guess I got.
AP: Musically, this record is kind of simultaneously more and less complex than your prior work, (I’m thinking specially about that quick turnaround on “Like The Hills”), and more inclined to let one idea breathe. Is this a reflection of your progressing musical tastes or voice as a whole?
NM: Since we stopped trying to be or do a certain thing after Squitch retired in 2023, I think letting one idea breathe without forcing it to move into another part became easier. If the song has said and done what it needs to say and do…. Where else could I even bring it?
But of course some songs have more to say, and more twists and turns are appropriate to compliment the message and emotions contained within the song.
AP: How much do these songs change to you playing full band versus the solo shows?
NM: The core stays the same, the magic of my bandmates bringing the goods to life is just the best though.
AP: This now being a multi-city band how has your relationship to Boston changed?
NM: Miles and I are still in Boston, but I think this city has become a bit of a home base where we come back together. Kit and Denzil are both originally from within an hour of Boston so it only makes sense. Even though I haven’t left it feels more nostalgic of a place than it used to.
AP: What’s next for Night Moth?
NM: For now, this run of March shows! After that I’m just not sure… but I do love hearing peoples’ thoughts and connections to this record. It’s the happiest I’ve ever felt with a finished album before! I hope people find something in it they resonate with and find some joy in sharing it with the people they love.
There will certainly be more albums. Timeline, lineup, arrangement, genre… We shall see!
Night Moth is out now via Worry Bead Records, you can grab a copy here. Night Moth’s record release tour starts tonight at O’Brien’s Pub in Allston, tickets are still available.