The Moles | Artist
The Moles were an Australian indie pop band formed 1989 in Sydney by Richard Davies (vocals, guitar), Glenn Fredericks (organ, guitar), Carl Zadro (drums), and Warren Armstrong (bass). Bandleader and primary songwriter Davies later found success on American soil both as a solo artist and as one-half of the short-lived duo Cardinal. The band debuted in 1990 with the EP Untune the Sky, followed a year later by another EP, Tendrils & Paracetamol. After the 1992 release of their first LP release, also titled Untune the Sky, the group relocated to New York, where they released a pair of 7" singles, packaged together as an EP, titled The Moles. A move to London followed, and although they garnered great acclaim from the British press, the band nonetheless broke up around the beginning of 1993. In 1994 Davies resurrected the Moles for the album Instinct. Although credited to the band, the album is essentially the beginning of Davies' solo career, although he did not make his formal debut until 1996's There's Never Been a Crowd Like This. In 2016, after releasing a flurry of albums under both his own name and with Cardinal and Cosmos, the latter a collaboration with Guided by Voices' Robert Pollard, Davies issued the sprawling, 24-track Tonight's Music, the first new Moles album in over 20 years. Two more late period albums followed in 2018 and 2025. From their catalogue of recordings, standout releases include the two EP's from 1991 The Moles aka What's The New Mary Jane?, and Tendrills and Paracetamol , the albums Untune the Sky (1991), Instinct (1994), and Tonight's Music (2016). The 2014 compilation Flashbacks and Dream Sequences: The Story of the Moles is also highly recommended. Richard Davies has released three solo albums to-date. The band's early work, in particular their first album Untune the Sky has been described as a minor masterpiece of low-fi indie/neo-psych, with references to band's such as R.E.M. and The Bats. An RYM review described the album as "a bizarre journey between placid, hazy guitars to downright vehement walls of sound that project your mind over all avenues of excitement and awe.. The hearty D.I.Y. momentum of quirky keyboard cuts and noisy guitar riffs constitutes a charming, particular lo-fi aura". In its review of the 2014 release Flashbacks and Dream Sequences: The Story of the Moles Pitchfork gave it a 8.0 rating and highlighted the stylistic differences between the early and later works: "The first Moles brought a uniquely fraught and cinematic sensibility to the Oceanian indie pop tradition honed by bands like the Bats and the Chills. The second Moles built psychedelic chamber-pop collages whose rich arrangements seemed perpetually at odds with the inescapable sense of isolation and bareness they evoked." Dave Simpson writing in The Guardian went further, describing the band's sound as "defiant eulogies to the thrill of sublime, loud, exhilarating, transportive pop". Richard Davies has been living in Cape Cod, Massachusetts for the past 30 years with a family, and outside of his music activies is a fully qualified practicing trial lawyer.
Artist Website: themolesband.com
Featured Albums: The Moles
Related Artists: Richard Davies, Cardinal
