After introducing himself with his breakthrough singles 'sunshine' and 'Happier' this past year, New York's Caleb Moore returns once again to deliver his shimmering new effort 'Missed Me'.
Capturing more of that broad and diverse aesthetic he is quickly earning a reputation for, 'Missed Me' makes for a wonderfully rich and immersive listen. With his innovative approach to production perfectly heightening his vibrant vocal style throughout, he is cementing himself as one of the more adventurous names on the rise right now.
So with the new single available to stream now, we sat down with him to find out more about his origins and what has been inspiring him most over the years.
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What was the first instrument you fell in love with?
Definitely guitar. My parents started me on piano when I was really young, like six, but it wasn’t until I started taking guitar lessons about a year later that I fell in love with music. As a result, a lot of my idols from my childhood are also guitar players - George Harrison, Stevie Ray Vaughan, John Mayer - so it became ingrained as a part of my identity, and I think it always will be.
What kind of music did you love when you were younger?
Genre-wise I was pretty all over the place as a kid - which checks out if I look at what I listen to now. But The Beatles were without a doubt the primary soundtrack of my childhood, and are extremely responsible for me falling in love with music and songwriting. That being said, in the early days I was listening a lot to artists like Lauryn Hill and Norah Jones (Miseducation and Come Away With Me were two albums my parents kept in the car), as well as Eminem and even Avril Livine when I was really young. I also feel inclined to admit that I became obsessed with the Spin Doctors around the age of ten and you couldn’t tell me anything!
What was the first album you remember owning?
The White Album. And interestingly enough that’s also the first album I remember listening to through and through. I remember thinking Ob-la-di Ob-la-da was the funniest thing I’d ever heard, and when I think about it I’m kind of amazed by the way that album can transcend all age groups to the point where a five year old can love it as much as a twenty-five-year old. I don’t think I was obsessed with an album like that again until American Idiot came out in 2004.
What is the one song you wished you could have written yourself?
Wow, such a good and difficult question. My favourite song of all time is Yesterday, but I don’t think I wish I wrote it, I think I feel lucky to inhabit a world where it exists. The one song I wished I could have written myself is this song called The Few Things by JP Saxe. He’s an unbelievable songwriter, and I’m consistently stunned at how well he articulates things I’m experiencing. The Few Things feels like the exact song I want to have written about my girlfriend of seven years, Kibriyaá. Beyond the beautiful simplicity of the chorus (“You’re one of the few things that I’m sure of / You’re one of the few things that I know already I could build my world of”), he has a line right at the beginning of the song that read me like a book. “I don’t say what’s on my mind quite as much as you’d like me to. / I’ve been hearing that my whole life, I promise it’s not just you.” Sheesh! Being open and honest was a challenge for me when Ki and I met, but we really worked hard together to build that as our foundation and it’s so paid off. That’s why I love that line so much.
Do you have any habits or rituals you go through when trying to write new music?
Sort of - I feel like I do things one of two ways. The way I always wrote growing up, and continue to do often, is just with me and my guitar. I still use my notebook even though I keep a lot of lyric ideas on my phone. Lately I’ve adopted a new technique though as I’ve gotten deeper into producing, which is I’ll spend some time making a track, and then just turn on my mic and start freestyling melodies and lyrics. It makes it super fun and free, and then because I’m recording I can go back and write around some of the serendipitous lines that came out.
Who are your favourite artists you have found yourself listening to at the moment?
Some of my favourites of late are Loony, Little Simz, and Bakar. All of them have albums that I listen to in their entirety and represent different areas of music production and songwriting that inspire me. I’ve been obsessed with Loony’s album Soft Thing from 2021, it’s this velvety yet groovy R&B sound, and the opening track “beg” took my breath away the first time I heard it late last year. I more recently got into Little Simz and I know I’m late to the party, but her flow is just unmatched. I can't get enough. There’s this song on her latest album No Thank You called “No Merci,” where she raps over this simple little beat consisting of basically just a sample, an 808 and a clap, and somehow it’s the most exciting thing I’ve ever heard. Finally I’ve had Bakar’s new album Halo on repeat. As a guitar player I feel especially connected to the more guitar-centric songs like “Hate The Sun.” That song in particular has inspired me to embrace a minimalist approach to my songwriting lately. Plus I can’t get enough of his voice.
If you could open a show for anyone in the world, who would it be?
Hands down Tyler the Creator. Which is maybe kind of a crazy answer because I don’t know how I would even begin to try to live up to the show that he would put on, but I don’t think I should worry about that in this hypothetical. His music has been one of my main influences in the last five years especially, and I’m also dying to see him live, so it feels like I could kill two birds with one stone there.
What do you find is the most rewarding part about being a musician?
It’s such a gift to be able to do music for a living honestly. I’m always reminding myself of that, ‘cause ultimately no matter how bogged down I feel at any one time by work or the uncertainty that is being an independent artist, the actual way I get to spend my time is doing exactly what I would be doing if I wasn’t working - making music. And I think now I’m reaching a different phase as well where I feel really rewarded by being able to share my music with the people close to me. That wasn’t always a part of it for me, and I think I was missing something without knowing when I was keeping my music to myself.
And what is the most frustrating part?
For me at least, especially as someone who is most often working alone, it’s the challenge of having no one else to answer to. Again, totally a double-edged sword, there are times where I love it. But as someone who can get caught up in feeling like they always need to be doing more, I can drive myself a little crazy and lose some perspective if I’m not careful. In a creative pursuit you need to be super determined, but you also need to give yourself some grace, because it’s not something you can just force out.
And what is the best piece of advice you have received as a musician?
I actually got some advice recently that has had a big impact on me. I was on a zoom call with Ryan Lott from Son Lux. He was talking about balancing being both a film composer and an artist after his work on Everything Everywhere All At Once, which is something I deal with frequently as I write music for film as well. He was encouraging us to never be afraid to run, creatively speaking, in whatever direction the music takes you when you sit down to write. If you set out to do one thing, and it’s not happening but something else is, embrace it. And that’s actually how I made my most recent single, Missed Me. I sat down to write one thing, and then all the sudden I was creating an electronic x alternative R&B garage dance beat, and it’s some of the most fun I’ve had making music.
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Caleb Moore's new single 'Missed Me' is available to stream now. Check it out in the player below.