ANCHR's Artist of the Week: Moon Kissed

This week’s Artist of the Week goes to Moon Kissed, another incredible band I had the chance to see at this year’s Riot Fest.

Moon Kissed is a trio based in NYC composed of Emily Sgouros on synth, Leah Scarpati on drums, and Khaya Cohen on vocals. The band has strived to make their shows an atmosphere where “anyone is free to be themselves, gender isn’t real, and the person you’re dancing next to is your best friend but also could be your next makeout partner.” Their set that I caught at Riot Fest definitely had an intense yet free-spirited vibe to it that was both inspiring and mesmerizing, and it stuck with me as one of the best performances of the weekend.

To date, Moon Kissed has released two full-length albums, including 2019’s I Met My Band At A New Years Party and 2021’s follow up called I’d Like to Tell You Something Important. If you couldn’t guess by the debut album title, Sgouros and Cohen happened to meet Scarpati at a New Years Eve Party, and since that moment, the rest is history—the trio has continued to tour, write music, produce music videos and sell out shows at iconic NYC venues. The band has said that the sophomore record showcases some of their most collaborative writing yet, since Cohen had actually written a majority of the songs on the first record before they all met and banded together. “I think it’s really special that we help bring things to the table and just really zoom out and see them as a work of art or a song and just be excited about them no matter who wrote them,” Cohen says about Moon Kissed’s creative partnership.

The second album highlights Moon Kissed’s limitless range and exploratory creativity throughout its 12 tracks. The introductory song “Bubblegum” has a bouncy, sweet introduction but explodes with a crescendoing chorus, and “Dance” fades in with a hypnotic beat and atmospheric vocals that describe the feeling of unrequited or lost love. Then there’s also “Saturday Night” that’s a punchy, synth-drenched dance anthem about tuning out the real world for a night. The spoken-word track “I’ll Ask for It” vividly captures the too-often experience of victim-blaming that women encounter in its short 39 seconds, once again holding up the album’s promise of telling the listeners something important.

Make sure you tune into Moon Kissed’s entire discography, including their 2022 EP “I’m On My Way” and see where you can catch them live here.