The event of a Perry Arc is too rare. A new James Bond too common. Moss is more like that traveling uncle. You never know the day he will drop by, but when he does everyone gathers around him. The first thing that you notice when listening to HX is the composure in the album as a whole. This is not merely a sum of parts. This is Neil Young singing in awe: there’s more to the picture than meets the eye. It’s the sound of a band that after years of separation got together in a higher state of creative understanding. The physical manifestation of that shared space happened to be what eventually was to become the name of their album. HX is a reference to Hoogcruts, a monastery that burned down and rose back up many times throughout its six centuries old history. To have this stubbornly beautiful building as a recording studio serves as a crystal clear metaphor. Moss is back.

HX transformed into an album about loss, pain, setbacks, but eventually more than anything, acceptance. The down but not out qualities of a song like Salt make it feel safe to look back on things. But as with all art the best songs transcend their subject matter and start to live a life of their own. Around is such a song. It has the typical upbeat indie grooves of Dutch counterculture anthems as My Decision, but at the same time it could just as easily have been your favourite extra bonustrack on In Rainbows. Then again a song like Beginning sounds more like a future Drake sample. As with the born popsingle Before it’s Gone it is that radio-ready production of Arne van Petegem that makes us connect so easily. He’s back in the control room after his work for the previous album, Strike. So is guitarist Bobby Gibson after an eight year absence. On one of the absolute gems of HX, Save Me, Marien Dorleijn belts full of craving “I Need You here”. Is he singing about his bandmates? His Mother? About us listeners? Melancholy is for once our friend and not our enemy when listening to the new Moss album. A state that feels almost crucial in these trying times.

Sometimes things just work out. Writing their first single ‘Leave Me There’ was one of those occasions for Loupe. It being the actual first song they’ve created together as a band is just an additional footnote for this four-piece from Amsterdam. While the music had been written by Lana (bass guitar), Annemarie (drums) and Jasmine (guitar) the lyrics and a fitting vocalist were still lacking. They found their missing link in Julia (vocals).