Electronic artists Trashlagoon and Parra for Cuva’s ‘Hotel Moonlight’ enters uncharted waters

Appropriately named, “Hotel Moonlight” is one stop along Parra For Cuva and Trashlagoon’s journey to broaden their musical horizons.

The two electronic artists teamed up for the second single on their collaborative EP “Planet Ujou,” a project different from any of their previous works. 

The duo ventured to remote locations in the Northern Sea and Berlin to record, mostly working with live instrumentation. The result is mature and ambitious, and it guides listeners into a space created from worldly influences. 

“Hotel Moonlight” is exploratory, using ambient synth pads to draw listeners into their cosmic realm. Jazzy drums settle in quickly, setting the scene for other instruments to be introduced later on. As an acoustic guitar loop plays in the background, these sounds all blend together into an ambience that gives way for an eerie bass-line, which builds suspense for almost five minutes. 

The track invites listeners to lose themselves in introspection, as the artists did while recording.

“The main thought behind it all was the idea of seeing the world from a different perspective,” Trashlagoon wrote in an email. “For example, how does another existence that perhaps comes from a different planet sees the world we live in? That was our main inspiration which led us to reinvent our musical approach to songwriting.”

As the journey continues, flute embellishments come and go, a faint vocal track loops in the distance, and synths are layered upon each other, creating a feeling of grandness. The destination is in sight, ready to be discovered on “Planet Ujou.”

Such a sophisticated collaboration was the result of meticulous planning and creative development. Parra for Cuva and Trashlagoon have bounced ideas off each other since meeting in 2015, and as these plans grew in magnitude, they realized ordinary measures would not be able to capture their creative energy. They traveled to the island of Borkum in the North Sea and a village in Northern Berlin to record the majority of the project. 

“Moving the studio to these places was a fundamental part of freeing ourselves from everyday distractions of modern society but also a way of creating the illusion of being on that different planet where our story takes place. At this time, it was only us with our instruments, some special movies we took with us and a beautiful environment,” Trashlagoon said in an email.

This hyper-focused process inspired the duo to create some especially enlightened material.

“If you’re into making music, there is always a point when you suddenly lose control over what is happening and things kind of go their own way. Often these moments are the most valuable on a record, and we tried to create this state of mind as much as possible,” Trashlagoon said in an email. 

Parra for Cuva and Trashlagoon hope audiences find fulfillment in their “Planet Ujou” EP after challenging their own psyches while collaborating. “Hotel Moonlight” is available to stream. Be on the lookout for “Planet Ujou.”