Musically, Allie Crow Buckley’s new single, “Moonlit and Devious”—premiering below—is heavy and haunting and hypnotic. But lyrically, it’s a sly, playful portrait of long-distance desire, nodding to a previous era of her and her partner’s relationship.
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“Candlelit loneliness / I lay on your side of the bed,” Buckley sings in the track, her deep vocals gliding over an eerie organ part. Later, the Los Angeles musician seems to delight in blurring the line between teasing and being teased: “Being good in your absence,” she croons, “I sink my teeth into the bit / I just hope you’re into this / It’s so romantic in my head.”
“I was having a glass of wine by candlelight and the song sort of came through,” Buckley tells American Songwriter of the track’s conception. “When you read the lyrics, it’s really a love song, but the recording and the music took on this menacing quality which I quite like because of that duality we all have within partnerships or relationships.”
“Moonlit and Devious” is the second single and title track off the singer-songwriter and organist’s debut album, which is defined by these light/dark dualities—both lyrically and sonically. Co-produced by Jason Boesel and Mike Viola (both of whom helped craft Buckley’s 2019 debut EP, So Romantic), the album was recorded with keyboardist Lee Pardini and guitarist Dylan Day.
“What was so special about the recording process was that it was live,” Buckley recalls. “I would play the band a song on organ or on a synth, and then we’d all set up in our little stations and play it through so it was able to just come out however we were feeling in that moment.”
Buckley spoke to American Songwriter by phone from her digs in Eagle Rock about the “psycho-scribble” songwriting experience behind “Moonlit and Devious,” her love of Black Sabbath, and the surreal spot in Northern Italy that inspired the album’s dreamy, distorted sound. Check out the full interview and listen to the title track below.
American Songwriter: Can you tell us a little bit about the title track of your new album?
Allie Crow Buckley: “Moonlit and Devious” was written in my house here [in Los Angeles]. It was sort of a stream of consciousness. I was having a glass of wine by candlelight and the song sort of came through. When you read the lyrics, it’s really a love song, but the recording and the music took on this menacing quality which I quite like because of that duality we all have within partnerships or relationships.
AS: That’s such a good word for it—menacing. The lyrics straddle the line between teasing and being teased.
ACB: Totally. I’m so glad you picked up on that.
AS: When was that writing session?
ACB: It was 2019. March of 2019 is when I wrote most of the record. It all happened in about a week or two.
AS: Oh my gosh.
ACB: I know, isn’t it funny how those things happen sometimes? Like, “I’m ready! Let’s do it!”
AS: Another lyric that really stood out to me is the refrain, “Oh, won’t you give me a kiss.” There’s this ambiguity where it could be this playful, flirtatious command, but it also could be this frustrated plea.
ACB: Yes, 100 percent. That’s totally it!
AS: Was that a feature of the relationship that inspired the song?
ACB: I suppose so, yes. It’s about my partner, who I’m still with, and he was away for months at a time. The song, to me, takes on this Midsummer Night’s Dream feel, where you have this devious side, though you’re very devoted to your partner, so it’s this push and pull of independence while also being devoted. It’s like what you’re saying—teasing, but the want for independence.
AS: Why’d you pull the album title from this song?
ACB: I felt that this song really embodies the personality of the record—the dualities, the moonlit side and the devious side. I find that you can hear that even sonically throughout the record. There’s a much darker side to the record and then there’s a light, effervescent side. So that’s why I thought this track really represented the record as a whole.
AS: When did you notice those themes were coming through?
ACB: I thought the themes of duality were coming through during the writing process, and then that was really reflected in the recordings. The way we recorded was all live on the floor, so everyone was just playing off of each other in the moment. It was very cool to me that naturally, sonically, the record took on a moonlit side and a devious side compositionally.
But lyrically, a couple of the songs on the record all came through in a stream of consciousness. I actually have the funniest piece of paper that I wrote “Moonlit and Devious” on—it’s on the back of a blind contour [drawing] that I did of my mother, and all of the lyrics are there. It’s sort of this psycho-scribble, because sometimes that’s just the way songs come through. They’re just like, “Okay, we’re here!”
So I don’t know that I intentionally thought of those themes… Sometimes you don’t really know until after the fact, and you can reflect on it. That’s why music is such an awesome thing. It’s all coming through and you’re like, “Oh, that’s cool,” and then you look back and you’re like, “Oh wow, that totally represents where I was at.”
AS: So you wrote these songs during a short stretch in March of 2019, then when did you actually get into the studio?
ACB: We got into the studio and recorded “Moonlit and Devious” and four other songs at the end of 2019—I think it was December. That’s the real spirit of the record. The backbone was recorded in December of 2019, then we got in during the summer of last year to finish it and do some of the other songs.
AS: You worked with co-producers Jason and Mike, with whom you also worked on your last EP. How did you communicate your vision to them about the album’s sound? Or did you arrive at that sound together?
ACB: For this particular song, and for a lot of the songs of the record, I wrote all of the music on my organ. I have an organ here—it’s a ‘60s Wurlitzer Funmaker, that’s what it’s called. So that’s where all of the heavy organ—for example, in “Moonlit and Devious”—comes from. But I’m so lucky to have two co-producers like Jason and Mike, who I worked with previously. They totally understand my spirit and where I’m coming from musically, [as with] the other players on the record, Lee [Pardini] and Dylan [Day]. I’ve worked with Dylan before a lot.
What was so special about the recording process was that it was live. I would play the band a song on organ or on a synth, and then we’d all set up in our little stations and play it through so it was able to just come out however we were feeling in that moment. We really just went for it. The thing I love about this record, too, is there’s this throughline—especially with “Moonlit and Devious”—where it’s actually the same chords the entire song, so it takes on a sort of meditative quality. But the other players are really interacting, dancing around that throughline. It’s always so fun getting to do that.
AS: It’s almost psychedelic at some moments.
ACB: Yeah, we got a little crazy at the end there!
AS: I came across this Spotify playlist of yours called “Vanguard Way”, which seems to highlight some of your influences. Can you hear any of your musical lodestars in Moonlit and Devious?
ACB: Definitely. A big musical influence for me is Black Sabbath. I really love them. If you listen to their earlier records, tonally [the music] is so warm. And actually the players are quite jazzy, which a lot of people don’t know about some of those earlier records. [Their music has this] dark underbelly, it’s so free. So I love them. And I really love Todd Rundgren because of the way he keeps all of the mistakes in as a part of the song. That’s something that we all do—Jason, Mike, and myself in production—leave things that maybe weren’t supposed to happen because they add to the magic. I love Roxy Music. I think you can hear some of the Roxy Music influence in there too. Joni [Mitchell], of course. It goes without saying.
AS: I noticed Molly Burch appears on that playlist too. She seems like a fellow traveler.
ACB: Oh I love her, she’s so wonderful.
AS: When you listen to So Romantic and then listen to this album, do you feel like you’ve moved away from or gone further into the sounds of that EP?
ACB: I think that So Romantic, the EP, is much more oceanic. It has more of that energy, whereas I think Moonlit and Devious is more earthbound. It feels more grounded, darker, a little more dramatic. And also just being able to write a full body of work, almost all at once, is what I did for Moonlit and Devious, and that was a departure and a really special thing, because I wanted the listener to enter into this world. And I do think there’s a world to So Romantic, but within the process, So Romantic was recorded over a longer period of time. It was slower. So being able to record Moonlit and Devious all at once with the same band—it was just the span of a few days—felt like a departure in a positive way.
AS: I wanted to ask about your previous single, “Nothing Sacred”, which opens with the following lines: “Sun bleached, in opposition / Line dancing losing the feeling, limb by limb / I fear it’s coming, the gods clutching their bellies laughing.” What’s happening here?
ACB: So much of this record, especially “Nothing Sacred,” was written around this very wonderful, dark, heavy place where I was in Italy. Even though some of the lyrics don’t exactly represent that area, it really changed me. So that entry point, the first song on the record, is an invitation to the world. I wanted it to just throw you into the world of this record. It’s kind of an intense first song, and I wanted that so that you’re transported. That’s how I felt when I was writing it—I felt really out of myself. I think that’s a fun standpoint to take when you’re listening to a record—especially after the year we’ve had—to have something that lifts you out into this mystical realm.
AS: When were you last at that place in Italy? Where was that?
ACB: It was in the Northern part of Tuscany. Last time I was there was 2018, and it was where the Etruscan people once lived. They were an ancient civilization of earth-worshippers, and so they dug these tunnels deep down into the earth that wound around, so that they could be closer to the earth, to mother earth. It was so heavy.
We stayed in this town that was quite literally carved into the side of a mountain. And the lyrics of “Nothing Sacred” are quite literal—I was dancing with all these locals. They had this line dancing that they were all doing one night in the square, and it was really out of this world. It’s a really, really special place, but very heavy and very intense.
AS: What a powerful image.
ACB: It really stuck with me.
AS: Is there anything else you want to share about this album, either in terms of what it means to you or how it came together?
ACB: I think you really heard the duality and the strange world that this album inhabits. That’s what I want for the listener—to be able to just enter into something different and otherworldly.
“Moonlit and Devious” is out now. You can pre-order Moonlit and Devious—out March 12—here.
Photos by Nastassia Brückin
